Static and Gears Excellent Adventure
by milapa
Summary: Finally completed! Virgil and Richie get messed up with a project that seems to be based on human experimentation. Both Slash and NOT slash explained in ch. 5
1. Chapter 1

It was cold and rainy. The dark clouds in the sky indicated there was no chance of it clearing up before they got home. Not that it really mattered; they were as wet as it was possible already.

Flying above the clouds was impossible and flying under them was dangerous. So was walking, but far less so and they had had a job to do.

Who on earth would willingly be out in this horrendous weather even they couldn't guess. Someone was out though, and of course it couldn't just be for a pleasure cruise.

Someone had taken advantage of the tremoltous weather to rob a bank... at 6:30 in the morning. Needless to say the two young superheroes were not thrilled. Early in the morning would not have been a problem most days, but this was Saturday and Saturday for high schoolers meant much needed- and wanted- sleep.

The fact still remained, they had been woken up after two hours of sleep by an emergency call and so here they were now standing in front of the bank. Their feet tired from all the uncharacteristic walking, clothes soaked from the pounding rain, and brains swimming from little sleep.

None of that bothered them at the moment however. What bothered them was: there before them the bank stood untouched, unaltered, and certainly not robbed. Lightning clashed and thunder roared but there stood the bank entirely peaceful.

Static and Gear, the two very aggravated superheroes, simotainiously sighed and plopped down on the sidewalk more-akin-to-a-puddle in front of the unviolated building.

"Are you sure that thing's right?" The darker of the two forcibly sighed out.

"Has he ever been wrong?" The other pale boy responded in a way that would have been indigent except he was too tired. Static -the dark boy's superhero alias- shrugged.

"First time for everything."

"Well he's not." Gear all but shot back.

"Well, there clearly wasn't a robbery here or any other crime for that matter."

"You and I both heard it, Static. The police call said 'robbery first national bank Dakota back up needed.' This is the only First National Bank in Da-"

Suddenly the young superhero was hit with a realization. "You don't think this could be a trap do you?"

The other teen waved him off with a gloved hand. "Nah. We would have been caught by now if it was."

"Then why did we get called here?" Gear asked in a perplexed but sleepy manner.

"I don't know" Static said slowly standing up. "Let's just go home."

Gear stood up next to his partner needlessly dusting off. The two boys once again started walking through the rain. The sun had started to rise but the sky remained pitch black.

"Static, don't you think there's something strange going on here?" Gear said looking at the sky wearily.

"Gear, we already established this, no one robbed the bank and there is no trap."

"No, not that." The green clad superhero started waving his hands franticly. "It's well below freezing out here."

"And?"

"It's raining!"

"Yeah. And?"

"And?! It's below freezing and _raining!"_ Gear stated enunciating the last word.

"What's your point?"

"It should be snowing or sleeting. Not raining."

"Ahhhhh. Your right." Static finally understood, but still did not really care.

"Of course I'm right, but I still have no explanation."

Static shrugged and yawned out, "Just crazy weather I guess."

Gear, as his name suggest, started pulling out gear, mostly test tubes and one beaker.

"Gear, what are you doing?" Static asked his partner who had stopped walking along side him.

"Gathering samples. I have to know what this is." Gear replied scooping up some "water" from a puddle while the beaker filled up with rain.

"Well, hurry up." Static grunted exhausted.

Gear poured the contents of the beaker into a test tube and corked it. "Okay. Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

After several hours of sleep in a currently empty house -Pops and Sharon were off at the center- Virgil -Static- and Richie -Gear- awoke to the sun shining brightly.

It was 2:30 in the afternoon and the below freezing day had turned into a comfortable 56 degrees making it even harder for the two teenagers to pull themselves out of bed.

Richie, however, was enthusiastic to discover the secret behind the non-freezable rain; therefore he managed to roll out of the bed, grabbing his glasses off the light stand on his way. The blond genius landed on the blue, carpeted floor with a soft thud that caught the brown boy's attention. Leaning over the side of the bed he asked "Richie, man, you okay?"

The other sat up pushing his glasses onto his face and replied, "yeah, V, no problem. Just forgot how to stand."

"Oh, well if that's all..." Virgil pressed his head back into the fluffy white pillow being held under him.

"Nah-uh, V. You're not going back to sleep that easily." Richie said as he stood up and conked Virgil in the back of the head with the pillow that was previously supporting his blond head.

"Okay. Okay. Fine." Virgil held up his hands in surrender. "I'll get up."

"Great! Now let's get to the gas station." Richie said heading for the door.

"Hold on Speedy Gonzalious. You might want to put some pants on first."

"Oh right." Richie said blush covering his pale face.

Richie pulled his pants on and even managed to put on a t-shirt on over his under shirt before darting out the door with his best friend following slowly and unenthusiastically behind. The walk, or more like jog, was short due to the young boys fast pace. Richie thought that it was too long, however, being in a hurry to find results about the mysterious new liquid.

"Slow down man," the african-american teen said holding on to the entrance of HQ to catch his breath. "It's not like it's going to change into a bang baby or something."

"I know that, V, but this is really the first time _I've_ discovered something beyond theory." The pale kid replied practically bouncing while he took out the test tubes of clear, and slightly bubbling, liquid.

"You haven't discovered anything yet. Who know? It might just be water." Virgil said falling on to the couch and turning on the television, flipping through the channels to see if he could find any hit news story.

"Why you slamming me, V?" Richie said a little upset even though he was distracted by the experiments he was currently concocting on the old computer on the dusty desk in the corner.

"I'm not slamming you. I just don't see why this is so important." Virgil scrunched his eyebrows as the next channel faded in.

"This could be the greatest discovery I've ever ma-"

"Hold up a minute," Vigil hushed Richie holding up his hand and turning the volume on the T.V. to a blaring height.

The news reporter -a dark haired, Latino looking woman- was standing in front of First National Bank Dakota. The bank looked no different from last night except for the yellow police tape and odd outlines drawn in chalk on the ground.

"This just in," the news woman said in a professional, but almost panicked, manner. "Dakota's most beloved superheroes, Static and Gear, were found dead at this very location sometime early this morning. Police have yet to release the cause. However, it is assumed to be murder."

"Say what now?" Virgil said leaning into the T.V. Richie came over to stand behind him trying to confirm that he had heard right.

"Did she just say-"

"That we're dead? Yeah." Virgil finished his sentence.

"V. I don't know about you, but I'm not dead." Richie emphasized his point by poking his chest.

"I'm pretty sure I'm not either." Virgil started looking over his arms and torso.

"Then what did she mean Static and Gear were found dead? We are Static and Gear." The blond -clearly alive- teenager took a seat next to his brown friend.

"You're the super genius here. You tell me."

"Maybe we should go down there. Show them we're not dead."

"No. I think that would be too big a shock. We should go investigate as Virgil and Richie."

"Good idea, but next time a bang baby attacks we can't just not show up because we're dead'."

"Yeah. I guess you're right, but no one would believe us right now anyway. Static and Gear impersonators or something like that."

Richie had gotten up to set up the experiments he had planned out on the desk top. Things like heating the liquid, cooling it, and adding various other substances.

"Rich, you ready. I'd like to get there before they clear out 'our' bodies." Virgil said clicking off the T.V.

Richie put the finishing touches on the in-progress experiments and responded. "Yeah. Let's go. Hey, who knows, maybe I can examine my own body."

"That would be something." The darker teen said walking out the door. Richie followed shortly after.


	3. Chapter 3

Five quick things:

First, I have to appoligize for the fact that I certainly failed 90s slang 101, therefore Virgil and Richie might be a bit out of character.

Second, I know that it's already chapter three and there has been no authors note until now. I know that most people skip these so I'll keep any of the rest to a minimum.

Third, I will finish this fanfiction. I wouldn't post it otherwise. On the other hand, it may take awhile because I'm still not entirly sure where it will go.

Fourth, this is not slash and I don't really have plans for it to be. That being said, it may turn into it, considering I am a fan. (another fanfiction that is maybe uploaded later...if I ever finish)

Fifth and last, I don't own Static Shock. I should have said this earlier, but if I did own Static Shock, not only would this not be a fanfiction, but the show would most certainly be VR. That is all.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The two boys had made it down to First National Bank Dakota. The crowds were already large and chattering. There was nowhere to go to escape the near-palpable panic. All of Dakota was worried about the city's future without their two superheroes. The other bang babies were still out there and still very much active.

Virgil and Richie made their way through the crowds to the lines of yellow police tape where several officers -ten or so- were patrolling the parameters. Virgil lifted one piece of tape and slipped under; Richie followed shortly after.

Once inside the restricted area, Virgil and Richie made their way towards the white sheets covering what could be assumed as the bodies of Static and Gear.

"V, there's something off here." the pale teenager said looking around. Several officers walked by, appearing to disregard the two teenagers.

"Yeah. We shouldn't have been able to get in so easily or at all for that matter." Virgil took notice of all the law enforcement officers crawling around. Medical personnel unloaded supplies nearby to perform an autopsy on the currently unknown superheroes. Virgil and Richie looked around in order to make sure they would have a clear escape in case someone approached them.

"Cover me." Richie said as he rushed over to the bodies.

"Gotcha." Virgil said turning in the opposite direction to watch the guards.

Richie pulled out a small tool kit and lifted one of the sheets. Under said sheet was a blond boy with dark, still open, eyes. He was wearing a green mask connected to a white helmet. Richie could not see the uniform; he did not dare lift the sheet further. Pulling out a small scalpel, he cut off a piece of the ear, too small to be missed. The genius returned the sheet to its place and moved on to the next body. Likewise, it was a body very similar to Virgil's. The mask –white and blue- was still in place and did a fairly good job of hiding the true identity of the body.

"Hurry up, bro! The guards are heading this way!" The dark haired teen shouted as a man in a blue police uniform rounded the corner.

"Hold on. I'm almost done." Richie put the small piece of brown skin in a bag and replaced the second blanket. "Finished."

"Good. Let's go" Virgil said turning around only to see an officer standing directly behind, now in front, of him. "Um. Officer, sir." He stammered "We were just-" Without a word, the officer walked away.

"Well, okay." The currently very confused teen mumbled to himself.

Richie joined him the next second. "What happened, V.? It's like you weren't even there."

"I know man." Virgil said walking towards an exit -really just an unguarded strip of yellow tape. "He didn't even look at me."

"That's wack, bro." Richie said almost amused but really more concerned.

"Tell me about it. I thought for sure we'd get busted." Virgil once again slipped under the tape.

"Hey, maybe he had some kind of brain lock down or something." Richie said also slipping under the tape.

"Nah. I don't think that's it. He didn't look out of it... but I don't think he was ignoring me either."

"Then what is it?! Nothing else makes sense." Richie raked his brain coming up with nothing.

Virgil thought for a moment then threw his hands up admitting, "I've got nothing!"

The two young, and possibly former, superheroes started walking in the direction of their headquarters, the gas station of solitude. Between the bank and the gas station was practically nothing but trees. A dense forest surrounded the boys currently as they had forgotten to take the path back lost in thought.

The sky had started to get darker; the sun had started to set. The sky to the east of Dakota was dark with purple and black clouds. The heroes would have found it ominous if they had turned around. The calm before the storm, not that it was particularly calm and in most of the cities inhabitant's opinions the storm was already upon them.

Virgil and Richie, however, could not feel the same way. They knew that Static and Gear were still very much alive and they had no plans of the two dying any time soon.

Unexpressed thought passed through each young teenagers mind as a gentle breeze blew leaves, now changing colors for the fall, past them. What was the fake emergency call about? What was with the weather? Why were their alternate identities confirmed as dead? And why had none of the cops noticed them inside of the restricted zone?

* * *

a/n Thank You for reading all the way to chapter three! Much appriciated being my first multi-chapter fic. Reviews are alway appreciated, expecially on structure and OOCness. I also like to have incentive to continue too ;) but like I said earlier this will be finished. Thank You!


	4. Chapter 4

The shadow around the trees grew darker as the evening descended on Dakota wrapping Virgil Hawkins and Richard Foley in darkness. Only a faint green glow surrounded them. Animals of the night were starting to emerge as diurnal animals were finding their ways home, much as Virgil and Richie were trying to do.

Both teens were currently worn out; they had been walking since 4:30 pm and it was now nearing 8 pm.

The dark haired teen paused for a moment. "Hey, Rich. You have any idea where we're heading?"

The bi-spectacled boy stopped next to his best friend and sighed. "I can tell you where we're trying to go, but I have no idea where we are going."

"Uh-huh." Virgil slumped down leaning against a tree. "That's what I thought. So how we getten out of here?"

Richie took a seat next to his friend. "What are we going to do when all the wild animals come out? Or what if we never find our way out? Or some bang ba-?"

"Rich." Virgil grabbed his partner's shoulders. "Calm down, bro. It's cool. There isn't anything out here."

"Yeah. You're right, V. There couldn't possibly be any wild animals in a forest at night." Richie replied dripping with sarcasm.

"What's your problem?! I was just trying to calm you down!" Virgil crossed his arms and turned away from the other.

Richie stood up and walked away from where Virgil was sitting. "Excuse me for not wanting to get eaten!"

"And excuse me for not wanting to get panicked!" Virgil said walking away in the opposite direction.

"Get panicked! V, if you haven't noticed we're lost in the middle of a dark forest at night! How can we not get panicked?!" Richie threw his arms up in a questioning, angry manner.

"_We,"_ Virgil said as if to emphasize he was only talking about Richie, "could start by not talking about wild animals and rouge bang babies!"

"We'll if that's the way you feel." Richie turned away from Virgil.

"It is. In fact," he turned towards the blond boy, "You can get out of here by yourself!" Face burning with rage, the dark teenager pushed past his (former -for the moment) best friend.

"Fine! I'll be out of here before you can... can find a tree!" Richie screamed extremely flustered.

"That didn't even make sense!" Virgil shouted over his shoulder still walking away.

"It doesn't have to!" Richie huffed and walked in a 90 degree angle from the direction Virgil was heading.

"I don't need him. I'll show him I can get out of here without his help." Richie started mumbling to himself. "I'm a genius after all. I'll be out of here before night fall."

Ignoring night fell half-an-hour ago. Richie picked up a stick and started whacking at trees with it continuing to mumble to himself.

The forest was pitch black making it very difficult to see as he attempted to navigate through the dense trees. This was a task the blond boy was failing at. He ran into every tree in his path and the fact that he had dropped and stepped on his glasses ten minutes ago did not help.

An owl hooted in the distance startling the teenager. "Ah, what was that?!"

There was a shuffling in the bushes. "V, is that you? If it is, that isn't funny."

Richie sat down on what he assumed to be, or really hoped to be, a fallen tree. Sighing the young genius started reprimanding himself. "Some genius. I should never have made Virgil mad. He, at least, has electric powers where he could shock the creatures. Or use the electricity as a light. I really am an idiot."

He put his head in his hands, elbows on knees, closing his eyes and once again sighing. "Virgil, where are you?"

A pair of dark green eyes was watching him from the top of a tree. The eyes only vaguely resembled something human and were certainly malicious.

For a moment the forest grew dead silent. The moments to follow would be hectic.

* * *

a/n This isn't really the dirction I planned on it going, but I really more or less just planned on it going. There will be some action in the next chapter followed by what I hope will be fluff. Thank you for reading. Please review and tell me if Virgil and Richie are OOC because I really don't want them to be. BTW if you have any ideas as to where you want this to go, then I'll look at suggestions. Gladly. :)


	5. Chapter 5

Virgil Hawkins was a normal eight teen years old boy; normal except he was walking through a forest that had a purple glow, the source of which was the teenage boy.

It was nine thirty at night. The forest was dark everywhere but the source of the purple glow. Nocturnal animals could be heard all around but, even in the light, managed to not be seen.

Virgil was tired and hungry -he hadn't eaten except a small lunch. However, he was mostly upset and angry, but that had been dissipating into worry. He had been mad at Richie for getting panicked, but that was no reason to leave him.

Virgil sighed loudly, stopping. He knew what he had to do; he couldn't just leave his powerless best friend to defend himself against carnivorous animals in a dark forest.

"Hold on Richie." Virgil mumbled turning in the direction the other teen had gone. "I'm coming."

* * *

Richard Osgood Foley was an average eight teen years old, except he happened to be a super genius; not that it did him any good being lost in a forest at night. He was tired, hungry, scared, and highly upset with Virgil. He might have been angry, but in the current situation he would give just about anything for Virgil to be with him.

Richie had given up the idea of finding his way out of the forest -at least until morning- and decided to find somewhere to sleep. The only problem was he did not think there was any good place. All the caves would inevitably be filled with wild animals; he could not sleep in a tree -he would fall out- and the ground was too open to the cave animals.

Richie slumped down against a tree, patting the ground before sitting. Leaning his head back he said, "This is as good a place as any... I guess." He crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

The blond boy was certainly ready for some rest when all of a sudden an ape like creature landed with an Earth shattering thud right in front of him. Still being a superhero, Richie reacted quickly throwing a zap trap at what he assumed to be the creature; he could hardly see without his glasses and in the dark. The weapon hit its mark tangling large, hairy limbs in metal ones. This bought Richie just enough time to start running before the thing broke free.

If Richie had a guess to what it was, he would say a giant orangutan, considering its long arms and orange fur, but he wasn't going to stop to look.

Despite the creature's large size it could move very quickly. It could not, however, run as fast as a teenage boy running for his life. Richie raced through the forest as quickly as he possibly could in the direction he was pretty sure Virgil had gone.

As he ran he shouted, "V, man! I know you're mad at me, but I really need you right now!" The creature had started closing in, having night vision allowing it to move faster. Richie, looking back, noticed the glowing orange eyes closing in. A moment later he regretted it as he tripped over a root, doing a face plant into a rock. In his last few seconds of consciousness he managed to scream, "Help!"

* * *

"Help" is all Virgil needed to hear before darting in the direction of his best friend's voice.

"Rich, hold on! I'm coming!" The mocha teen shouted worry obvious in his tone.

Virgil did not bother looking where he was going, tripping a few times in his haste. As he neared where Richie's voice had come from, Virgil could hear almost psychotic growling. "Oh, heck no." Virgil mumbled as he charged up his powers.

As he entered the scene, in his purple glow, he saw a giant orange ape shaped creature with sharp claws about to tear Richie's head off. Virgil did not have time to think, he just reacted. Shocking the animal took its attention away from the fallen boy, but not before it sliced him across his back.

"Oh you've done it now!" Virgil said now furious with the large animal. Unfortunately, Virgil was out of ideas being surrounded by non-metal wood.

Struck by a sudden idea, inspired by the creature bolting towards him, Virgil caught a branch on fire and started waving it towards the current offender. The creature growled loudly backing off and jumping into the trees.

Virgil ran over to his injured friend.

"Rich, please be okay." Virgil said checking Richie's pulse. "Still beating. Good." Virgil slumped, relief evident in his posture.

"Nhg." Richie stirred, moving his head to the side and gritting his teeth. Virgil slipped his hand under Richie's head being careful not to hit the spot that was bruised.

"Rich, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left you alone...o-or yelled at you." Virgil trailed off the last part.

"V...what happened?" Richie grunted trying to sit up.

"Don't." Virgil held him down pushing his shoulders. "You were attacked by some weird creature."

"Oh yeah." Richie said closing his eyes." "What happened to it?"

Virgil hesitated for a moment. "It's... In the trees."

This time Richie did sit up, panic covering pain. "What? V, we've gotta get outta here." His words were slurred.

"I know that, but you're hurt."

At that moment the ape creature jumped, flying down to them from the branches. Virgil panicked, fearing a moment's hesitation would lead to further injury, and caught the remaining branches under the creature on fire.

"V! What are you doing?!"

"I don't know. I panicked."

The fire quickly jumped from one branch to the next, the creature nowhere to be seen.

"We gotta get out of here!" Virgil grabbed Richie's wrist and started running in any direction that would lead to an exit. The fire continued to spread quickly about them as smoke filled the forest.

After some time Virgil managed to pull them out of the burning forest. Both of the huffing and exhausted boys fell to the ground, Richie on his stomach. Virgil too tired to let go of Richie's wrist.

* * *

Important announcement: starting next chapter there will be two alternative chapters. One will be slash and the other won't. The one that is will have slash next to it and the other will just be the chapter number. The slash chapters will be a little longer because they will have the extra parts, but the non-slash will have the same story line.

a/n: Sorry this chapter was so long, I just wanted to get everything that I could out of the way before I split the chapters. Anyway, reviews are still very much loved. Also, I'm kind of at an impass from where I want the story to go next. I have too ideas, and I'm not sure which would be better. One involves a doctor and the other a lake. So if you'd like to choose out of those two then that would be good. Otherwise, I'll just flip a coin.


	6. Chapter 6 Slash

After several minutes feeling like an eternity Virgil woke up with a heavy weight on his chest and a bland tuft of hair in his face. The goopy liquid slowly making its way down his shoulder clued him in to what was currently on top of him. Putting his hand on his friend's back -away from the wounds- the mocha teen sat up shifting Richie to lean against him shoulder to shoulder.

"Richie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, V. Except is there any particular reason my back hurts?" The blond teen reached back to feel the offending area. When he brought back his hand he found it covered with red, semi-crusted liquid. The pale teen had a panicked look on his face. "V, what happened?"

Virgil rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I couldn't get to you in time. I'm sorry."

Richie shifted to the side and put his hand on the others shoulder. "I'm just glad you came... now help me get my shirt off and wrap this." Richie pointed to his back.

"Oh Right." Virgil started gently pulling the clothe away from the wound. "So you're not still mad?"

"Nah." Richie flinched as a stuck piece of white clothe was removed. "You were just trying to be logical. It was my fault."

Virgil leaned forward pressing his chest against Richie's side, half to grab his shirt, but mostly to be closer to his best friend. The darker teen put his head on a pale shoulder. "No, Rich. I should never have left you alone."

Richie was shocked. "Virge...You don't have to protect me..."

Virgil shook his head on Richie's shoulder. "I already lost my mom. I'm not going to lose my best friend."

Pale skin slowly turned rose. Richie was grateful for the cover of night. Even in statics electric purple and the glow emanating from the forest fire it was difficult to make out more than basic facial features.

"Then you might want to finish with my back."

The dark teen reluctantly pulled away pulling Richie's shirt with him. Richie was now bareback. In the faint light Virgil could see the muscle tone two years as gear had given his friend, years that certainly had been nice to him. Virgil had to back away to try to avoid the heat growing from the inside out. It isn't like he hadn't seen Richie topless since Gear, but something about the dirt and blood made him look more rugged, more...attractive. 'Wait. What am I thinking? Finding my best friend attractive because he looks rugged? I must be tripping.'

"Bro, what happened?" Richie tried to steady himself from the sudden loss of support. "It's like I suddenly sprouted tentacles. I didn't, did I?"

Virgil moved back towards a little panicked Richie. "No, you're cool. I just...got something in my eye." Virgil took Richies discarded shirt and started tearing it in strips.

The blond teen sighed. "Good. I thought I was going to mutate into something like Chain link for a moment. Although that would be pretty sweet. Then I could build and plan multiple devices at once... Oh! Or I could throw like eight zap traps at once. Maybe I should add a feature to backpack..." The super genius continued rambling about how he could set it all up. Virgil, being accustomed to this, had tuned out everything after 'good'. Instead he was trying to make sense of the creature that had hopefully been burned with the forest. At first he considered it may have been a monkey caught in the big bang but what would a monkey be doing at either of the explosions?'

"Hey, Rich?" Virgil said pulling Richie out of his rambling and gently tied a strip of already blood stained clothe around the pale muscular chest.

"Yeah?"

"Do you still have those bags you put our imitators DNA in?"

"Got 'em right here." Richie patted his pocket.

"Do you have any extra?"

"Yep." Richie said handing the other the extra bag. "Why?"

"I want to get DNA from the monkey thing." Virgil picked the few orange hairs off Richie's shirt pieces.

"Good idea, V." Richie said taking the bag back. "You finished wrapping by back yet?"

"Yeah." Virgil tied a last knot. "How's you're head?"

"No brain damage, I guess." He brought his hand up to the large knot covered buy a purple, green, and red bruise. "I have a mando headache, but that will go away with sleep."

Richie lay down on his side as not to bother his back. "We should just wait 'til morning to figure out where we are."

Virgil lay on his back next to Richie, his arms crossed behind his head. "Any idea what time it is?"

Richie rolled over a little looking at the sky. "It looks like a little after 2."

The dark teen turned towards his friend. "What happened to your watch?"

Richie had moved back to his side. "It was busted when I fell."

Richie closed his eyes trying to ignore the pain throbbing in his head and back; the biting cold didn't help any.

"It's freezing out here." Richie mumbled shivering.

Virgil flushed a little and said, "It is a little cool."

"Virge, I don't have a shirt, and my skin doesn't absorb heat."

Virgil had ideas of what he wanted to do to warm the other boy up, but was afraid his ideas may be a little extreme. He did, however, scoot closer to his shivering friend as he turned on his side. Their arms barely touching, but the small contact made the electric teen shiver.

"It really must be cold. Now I'm shivering."

"Maybe we should get closer?" Richie suggested not opening his eyes for fear of what Virgil's facial expression would be.

"Y-yeah. That'd work." Virgil stammered scooting closer and lightly laying his arm over Richie's shoulder. The blond teen snuggled his arms close to the brown teen's chest. Both bots were thankful for the cover of night since even on Virgil's dark cheeks the blush was obvious.

* * *

a/n Sorry about the lengthy and rather sedentary chapter. This just presented such good fluff ideas (or atleast in my opinion) that I couldn't resist. Anyway, the next chapter will have more action and move the story forward. R&R please and tell me if the characters seem ooc.


	7. Chapter 6

After several minutes of what felt like an eternity, Virgil woke up to remember his best friend was still very much hurt. The red, semi-crusted liquid leaking from his back was a dead giveaway that there was no chance of the wound healing anytime soon. Virgil gently lifted his best friend to a sitting position propping him up against a nearby rock, careful as to not let the injured area not touch any surface.

"Richie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, V. Except is there any particular reason my back hurts?" The blond teenager reached back to feel the offending area. When he brought his hand back he found it covered with goopy, red liquid. The pale teen had a panicked look on his face. "V, what happened?"

Virgil rubbed the back of his neck and replied, "I couldn't get to you in time."

Richie shifted his position to look at his best friend better and raised his eyebrows. "I'm just glad you found me before it was too late. Can you help me get this wrapped?" Richie pointed to his back.

"No problem." Virgil helped Richie pull the blood encrusted shirt off. "So you're not mad at me anymore, right?"

"Nah-uh." Richie flinched as piece of the shirt stuck to the already dried parts of the wound. "You just didn't want to get panicked is all. I shouldn't have freaked."

"You got that right." Virgil said after which having to dodge a lame punch from the injured teen. "So we cool?"

"Yeah. We're cool." The two boys shared their normal fist hit, hand shake, smiling.

Virgil started to tear Richie's discarded shirt into strips in order to wrap the wounds, barely visible in the purple electricity of Virgil and the light emanating from the forest fire.

"Richie, what happened to your glasses?" Virgil asked as he tied on strip of blood stained, formerly white clothe around Richie's pale and toned chest.

"I lost them when I tripped in the forest...and then stepped on them." Richie said slightly embarrassed.

"Ha-ha, man. That sucks." Virgil laughed. What kind of friend would he be if he didn't laugh at his friend's misfortune?

"Yeah, well. That means you'll have to guide me back to Dakota, assuming we're not there right now." Richie quickly retorted.

"Ah, man." Virgil said in more mock than anything else disappointment.

Virgil had started to think about the large creature that had attacked them. He really hoped that it had been burned along with the forest, but if they could make it out chances are it could make it out as well. At first Virgil thought it may have been a mutated monkey affected by the big bang, but he could come up with no reasonable explanation as to why a monkey would have been at either big bang.

"Hey, Rich?" Virgil said pulling Richie out of whatever thoughts he may have been having.

"Yeah?"

"Do you still have those bags you put our imitators DNA in?"

"Got 'em right here." Richie patted his right pants pocket.

"Do you have any extra?"

"Bags? Yes." Richie said handing the other the extra bag. "Why?"

"I want to get DNA from the monkey thing." Virgil picked a few orange hairs off the pieces of Richie's shirt.

"Good idea, V." Richie said taking the bag back. "You finished with my back yet?"

Virgil tied one more knot and answered, "All done. How's your head?"

"No brain damage, I guess." He brought his hand up to the large knot covered in purple, green and red bruises. "I have a mando headache, but that will go away with sleep."

Riche lay down on his side, so as to not aggravate his back. "We should just stay here 'til morning and get some rest."

Virgil lay down next to his blond friend. "Agreed. Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Richie turned over a little to see the sky. "A little after 2 according to the moon."

Richie turned back over, back facing the darker teen. "It's freezing out here."

"Yeah, your right. Hold on a minute." Virgil got up and a few minutes later returned with small amount of fire wood. He caught a few pieces on fire. "That better?"

"Maybe a little too much now." The pale boy said, grin obvious in his voice.

"Ha-ha." Virgil said dryly. "You can move if you don't like it."

"Its good.'Night bro."

"G'night."

With that both boys drifted into a deep sleep.

* * *

a/n Sorry about the sedentary and rather irrelevent seeming chapter. If you read the otherside of the story it makes a little more sense why this is included here, but otherwise the next chapter will certainly move the story forward and have a lot more action, so please continue to read. Also, reviews are still very much appriciated. :)


	8. Chapter 7 Slash

a/n: Sorry for the weird beginning. It's just something that I really wanted to do, so I hope it doesn't stop anyone.

On a better note, fanart from last chapter is up on my deviantart account http :// milapa. deviantart. com /art /Night-fire-160209282 just remove the spaces.

* * *

The sun rose casting a pink glow on everything its soft rays touched. Sticky dew covered the hard ground making the dirt a little more like mud. White puffy clouds highlighted in pink filled the sky. Birds of prey could be heard for miles cleaning up the remains of last night's forest fire. In one particular spot several vultures were circling unsure whether their prey was dead or alive. Under the circling birds lay two teenage boys. One dark the other the exact opposite. As the large birds pulled closer they noticed that the one with yellow hair was turning red and a little blue. "He is close to dead," they chanted, "let us feast!" Twelve vultures landed, six at the head six at the feet. Squawking and crowing the carnivorous birds moved in. Each bird reached its target and with a loud cry from the lead vulture they prepared for their meal. A bolt of purple electricity sent the birds flying. "This one is still living! This one is still living!" they hollered taking to the sky.

"Rich man! You okay?!" Virgil shook his obviously not okay friend by the shoulder.

Richie rolled on to his back, pain shooting through his entire body like a thousand burning knifes. He attempted to crack his eyes open. A low moan escaped his lips.

"V." is all he managed to push out through ragged attempts to inhale air. Virgil was extremely scared to say the least.

The darker skinned superhero looked around trying to find anything that may be made of metal. About a hundred yards away he spotted a large piece of tin that looked like it may have been part of the roof to a chicken coop or make shift carport.

Quickly electrifying the piece of metal to come to him and pulling out his Static mask from his pocket -he knew it would come in handy-, Virgil lifted Richie and rushed to the sky.

Dakota Hospital was nowhere in sight. From this, Virgil concluded they must be in the city on the other side of the once forest. He had only been to this city once and was oblivious as to where the hospital might be found.

Touching down on a worn out side walk, the worried teen began frantically asking people for directions to the nearest hospital or doctors office.

After asking several people to no avail -not only were the pedestrians not answering, they seemed to be ignoring him- Virgil (with some difficulty) grabbed a man by the collar.

"Tell me where I can find a hospital! Can't you see my friends hurt?!" Virgil shouted almost close to tears. Richie was steadily getting worse. He was struggling to breathe in and his skin was burning against Virgil's fingers.

The man did not answer. Instead, he started screaming for someone to help. Passer-bys looked at the man like he had lost his mind.

"What is your problem, man? I need someone to give me directions." Virgil growled a little more harshly then he had intended. When the man still would not give him anything Virgil let go of his collar, after which the man ran screaming something about ghost.

Virgil knelt down on the side walk, nearly resigned to the fact his best friend was going to die with him being helpless. He laid the blond teen in front of him stroking wet locks out of half closed eyes.

"Rich, I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Richie panted through slightly parted teeth. "Da- dakota." He attempted to point in the direction Dakota would most likely be; the direction he had been heading when separated from Virgil in the forest.

Virgil had started standing up, holding Richie close to his chest, when an older man with graying hair placed a hand on the teens shoulder.

"Excuse me son. Are you looking for a doctor?"

Virgil turned around quickly. "Yes! Can you get me to one?"

"I am a doctor. Follow me." The man said in a comforting manner.

Virgil felt like he should be skeptical considering the way the man was dressed -baggy, ripped pants, a too big t-shirt, and a suit jacket- but he was so relieved someone had offered help that he overlooked appearances.

Aside from how grateful he was for the help, there was something in the old man's face that inspired trust, almost like a grandfather.

The old man lead Virgil to a house in an area of town that was more likely to contain gang bangers than doctors, but the house looked decent enough. It was a blue house made out of wood and metal, two stories. The windows were clean, the grass was green and cut, and the stairs that lead to the front door were made out of red brick. However, it was the only house looking neat in this area.

"Excuse the mess." The man said opening the front door.

"No prob. As long as you can help my friend, I don't care what your, uh, house looks like." The brown teen quickly jogged up the stairs and into the house after the older man.

Piles of books and papers covered the floor and blue couch. A bookshelf was also filled with books hidden behind what looked like family photos. There was a wooden box supporting a very old TV that looked like it had only been used a few times in the past. All of the curtains, also blue, were closed letting very little light in. Even the one light bulb dangling from the ceiling did not put off enough light for Virgil to see as much as he would have liked to.

Virgil placed Richie on a bed that was in the front room as the man gestured to it.

Green eyes looked the blond boy up and down. "How did he get those?" the man indicated the wounds on Richie's back -the bandages had been stripped off shortly after Richie was put on the bed.

"He was attacked by..." Virgil trailed off; not wanting to admit he had no idea about what it was that had attacked them.

"By what?" The old man persisted.

"A...a giant orangutan...I think." The dark teen could not bring himself to look the man in the eyes.

"I've seen those. Go into the kitchen and boil some water." The old man pointed towards a closed white door.

"Yes, sir. Mr....um I didn't catch your name." Virgil said heading towards the door. He was excited Richie was finally getting medical attention.

"Dr. Ricketson." The old man took out a stethoscope checking Richie heart beat and lungs.

"Thank you, Dr. Ricketson." Virgil said walking through the swinging door.

* * *

a/n: Sorry for the lack of real fluff or slash, but it was kind of hard to do with one of them practically passed out and the other completly freaked. I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Please review, and thank you for reading!


	9. Chapter 7

a/n: I just want to applogize for the beginning of this chapter before hand. It's kind of weird, but it's something that I really wanted to do, so I hope you'll enjoy it any way. Thank you for reading.

* * *

The sun rose casting a pink glow on everything its soft rays touched. Sticky dew covered the hard ground making the dirt a little more like mud. White puffy clouds highlighted in pink filled the sky. Birds of prey could be heard for miles cleaning up the remains of last night's forest fire. In one particular spot several vultures were circling unsure whether their prey was dead or alive. Under the circling birds lay two teenage boys. One dark the other the exact opposite. As the large birds pulled closer they noticed that the one with yellow hair was turning red and a little blue. "He is close to dead," they chanted, "let us feast!" Twelve vultures landed, six at the head six at the feet. Squawking and crowing the carnivorous birds moved in. Each bird reached its target and with a loud cry from the lead vulture they prepared for their meal. A bolt of purple electricity sent the birds flying. "This one is still living! This one is still living!" they hollered taking to the sky.

"Rich man! You okay?!" Virgil shook his obviously not okay friend by the shoulder.

Richie rolled on to his back, pain shooting through his entire body like a thousand burning knifes. He attempted to crack his eyes open. A low moan escaped his lips.

"V." is all he managed to push out through ragged attempts to inhale air. Virgil was extremely scared to say the least.

The darker skinned superhero looked around trying to find anything that may be made of metal. About a hundred yards away he spotted a large piece of tin that looked like it may have been part of the roof to a chicken coop or make shift carport.

Quickly electrifying the piece of metal to come to him and pulling out his Static mask from his pocket -he knew it would come in handy-, Virgil lifted Richie and rushed to the sky.

Dakota Hospital was nowhere in sight. From this, Virgil concluded they must be in the city on the other side of the once forest. He had only been to this city once and was oblivious as to where the hospital might be found.

Touching down on a worn out side walk, the worried teen began frantically asking people for directions to the nearest hospital or doctors office.

After asking several people to no avail -not only were the pedestrians not answering, they seemed to be ignoring him- Virgil (with some difficulty) grabbed a man by the collar.

"Tell me where I can find a hospital! Can't you see my friends hurt?!" Virgil shouted almost close to tears. Richie was steadily getting worse. He was struggling to breathe in and his skin was burning against Virgil's fingers.

The man did not answer. Instead, he started screaming for someone to help. Passer-bys looked at the man like he had lost his mind.

"What is your problem, man? I need someone to give me directions." Virgil growled a little more harshly then he had intended. When the man still would not give him anything Virgil let go of his collar, after which the man ran screaming something about ghost.

Virgil knelt down on the side walk, nearly resigned to the fact his best friend was going to die with him being helpless. He laid the blond teen in front of him.

"Rich, I don't know what I'm supposed to do." Virgil quietly said.

Richie panted through slightly parted teeth. "Da- dakota." He attempted to point in the direction Dakota would most likely be; the direction he had been heading when separated from Virgil in the forest.

Virgil had started standing up, pulling Richie up with him, when an older man with graying hair placed a hand on the teens shoulder.

"Excuse me son. Are you looking for a doctor?"

Virgil turned around quickly. "Yes! Can you get me to one?"

"I am a doctor. Follow me." The man said in a comforting manner.

Virgil felt like he should be skeptical considering the way the man was dressed -baggy, ripped pants, a too big t-shirt, and a suit jacket- but he was so relieved someone had offered help that he overlooked appearances.

Aside from how grateful he was for the help, there was something in the old man's face that inspired trust, almost like a grandfather.

The old man lead Virgil to a house in an area of town that was more likely to contain gang bangers then doctors, but the house looked decent enough. It was a blue house made out of wood and metal, two stories. The windows were clean, the grass was green and cut, and the stairs that lead to the front door were made out of red brick. However, it was the only house looking neat in this area.

"Excuse the mess." The man said opening the front door.

"No prob. As long as you can help my friend, I don't care what your, uh, house looks like." The brown teen quickly jogged up the stairs and into the house after the older man.

Piles of books and papers covered the floor and blue couch. A bookshelf was also filled with books hidden behind what looked like family photos. There was a wooden box supporting a very old TV that looked like it had only been used a few times in the past. All of the curtains, also blue, were closed letting very little light in. Even the one light bulb dangling from the ceiling did not put off enough light for Virgil to see as much as he would have liked to.

Virgil placed Richie on a bed that was in the front room as the man gestured to it.

Green eyes looked the blond boy up and down. "How did he get those?" the man indicated the wounds on Richie's back -the bandages had been stripped off shortly after Richie was put on the bed.

"He was attacked by..." Virgil trailed off; not wanting to admit he had no idea about what it was that had attacked them.

"By what?" The old man persisted.

"A...a giant orangutan...I think." The dark teen could not bring himself to look the man in the eyes.

"I've seen those. Go into the kitchen and boil some water." The old man pointed towards a closed white door.

"Yes, sir. Mr....um I didn't catch your name." Virgil said heading towards the door. He was excited Richie was finally getting medical attention.

"Dr. Ricketson." The old man took out a stethoscope checking Richie heart beat and lungs.

"Thank you, Dr. Ricketson." Virgil said walking through the swinging door.

* * *

a/n: I'm sorry for adding an OC. It's not really something I like to do, but the end result wouldn't work right if I hadn't, so please bare with him. On a more humorous note, the doctor is named after my criminal justice teacher. He doesn't look anything like him, but I wanted a name that sounded kind of weird and his certainly does (or atleast to me) ecspecially when dr. is added on. Anyway, please review. Thank you for reading. (^.^)


	10. Chapter 8 Slash

Virgil walked through the door to find a conglomerate of dirty dishes, silver, clean looking pots, and cardboard and plastic containers discarded everywhere. Despite all of the dishes and such scattered around, the counters were spotless, the floor was swept and mopped, and what could be scene of the yellow table did not have a spec on it. The kitchen, unlike the front room, was brightly lit. The stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher looked new. The whole room had a much less gloomy feel to it.

Virgil picked up one of the pots, smelling it to see if it was clean. He walked over to the sink and filled the pot with water at the same time using his powers to turn on the electric stove. He leaned against the counter next to the the stove and let out an almost relieved sigh. He wondered why the doctor needed boiled water in order to help his sick friend.

After a few minutes the water had reached 110 degrees Celsius and was bubbling like crazy. Virgil took this as a sign of the water being hot enough and walked out of the bright kitchen with the pot in his hands.

"I've got the water." The dark teen announced. "Now what?"

The old man turned around from where he had been examining Richie, now in his underwear (dark blue boxers), and pushed some books off of a table near the bed. "Place it here, if you will."

Virgil did as he was told and causally asked, "So what's wrong with him?" The concern in his voice was still very evident.

"It's hard to say just yet." Dr. Ricketson took out a needle and filled it with something that was in a small, brown bottle. "I'll need to take a blood test."

Virgil started forward at the sight of the strange liquid. "What is that?"

"Nothing to be worried about. Just a pain killer." He found a main artery and injected the substance.

"O-oh." The African-American teen stumbled out trying to convince himself that trusting this guy was the right choice.

After injecting the liquid the older man took out another needle which he used to draw blood.

He immediately submerged the container of blood in the still boiling water. After about a minute the blood that was a bright red turned dark red with a yellow tint.

Virgil had very little medical knowledge, but he did know that blood did not normally turn yellow, and he thought it would be true even if heated.

"What does that mean?" The teenage boy asked moving closer.

The doctor examined the yellow-red liquid for a moment. Getting worried Virgil glanced over at his suddenly quieter friend.

Richie had stopped panting shortly after the pain killer was administered and his breathing was now slow and shallow. However, the beads of sweat still trickling down his face did not give Virgil any comfort, and the yellow blood made his mind start to once again race.

"He's been poisoned." The doctor said now positive.

"Poisoned?!" Virgil repeated shocked. "By what?"

"Most likely the orangutan." The doctor said still looking at the liquid. "But I'll have to do more test to find out the exact cause and what the poison is." Dr. Ricketson stood up and walked into a room that was on the opposite side of the house as the kitchen. There was a sign on the used to be white, but was now currently brownish, door that read; 'Private. Do not enter.' Based on that, Virgil assumed it was a lab.

The mocha skinned teen sat down in a chair next to the bed. He took Richie's pale, but very warm, hand in his own.

"Rich, can you hear me?" He asked unsure if the sick boy was awake or in some other state of unconsciousness.

Richie made a move similar to a nod and squeezed Virgil's hand best he could.

"Good." Virgil said bringing his other hand up to enclose Richie's left hand. "You're going to be okay, bro. This doctor seems to know what he's talking about. You're going to be okay." The last few words were more for himself then Richie.

Richie attempted to open his eyes, to allow Virgil to see that he was somewhat okay, but he could only pull them half way. Through blurry eyes he could hardly see his brown companion.

"It's...okay, V." The pale teen huffed out. He was trying to give Virgil a little bit of comfort, but both of them knew that the truth was harsher than that.

Virgil scooted closer to the bed, resting his head near the top of Richie's chest. He did not let the full weight of his head down, not wanting to make it any more difficult for the other to breathe. "Richie, I love you. So please be okay." Virgil let a few tears slip from his closed eyes, mask having been discarded once he had landed in the unfamiliar city.

"I know..." was the quiet reply.

Both of them would have to think about the full implication of the words when this was all over.


	11. Chapter 8

Virgil walked through the door to find a conglomerate of dirty dishes, silver, clean looking pots, and cardboard and plastic containers discarded everywhere. Despite all of the dishes and such scattered around, the counters were spotless, the floor was swept and mopped, and what could be scene of the yellow table did not have a spec on it. The kitchen, unlike the front room, was brightly lit. The stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher looked new. The whole room had a much less gloomy feel to it.

Virgil picked up one of the pots, smelling it to see if it was clean. He walked over to the sink and filled the pot with water at the same time using his powers to turn on the electric stove. He leaned against the counter next to the the stove and let out an almost relieved sigh. He wondered why the doctor needed boiled water in order to help his sick friend.

After a few minutes the water had reached 110 degrees Celsius and was bubbling like crazy. Virgil took this as a sign of the water being hot enough and walked out of the bright kitchen with the pot in his hands.

"I've got the water." The dark teen announced. "Now what?"

The old man turned around from where he had been examining Richie, now in his underwear (dark blue boxers), and pushed some books off of a table near the bed. "Place it here, if you will."

Virgil did as he was told and causally asked, "So what's wrong with him?" The concern in his voice was still very evident.

"It's hard to say just yet." Dr. Ricketson took out a needle and filled it with something that was in a small, brown bottle. "I'll need to take a blood test."

Virgil started forward at the sight of the strange liquid. "What is that?"

"Nothing to be worried about. Just a pain killer." He found a main artery and injected the substance.

"O-oh." The African-American teen stumbled out trying to convince himself that trusting this guy was the right choice.

After injecting the liquid the older man took out another needle which he used to draw blood.

He immediately submerged the container of blood in the still boiling water. After about a minute the blood that was a bright red turned dark red with a yellow tint.

Virgil had very little medical knowledge, but he did know that blood did not normally turn yellow, and he thought it would be true even if heated.

"What does that mean?" The teenage boy asked moving closer.

The doctor examined the yellow-red liquid for a moment. Getting worried Virgil glanced over at his suddenly quieter friend.

Richie had stopped panting shortly after the pain killer was administered and his breathing was now slow and shallow. However, the beads of sweat still trickling down his face did not give Virgil any comfort, and the yellow blood made his mind start to once again race.

"He's been poisoned." The doctor said now positive.

"Poisoned?!" Virgil repeated shocked. "By what?"

"Most likely the orangutan." The doctor said still looking at the liquid. "But I'll have to do more test to find out the exact cause and what the poison is." Dr. Ricketson stood up and walked into a room that was on the opposite side of the house as the kitchen. There was a sign on the used to be white, but was now currently brownish, door that read; 'Private. Do not enter.' Based on that, Virgil assumed it was a lab.


	12. Chapter 9 Slash

Dr. Ricketson sat down in a gray swivel chair that was in front of large T.V. monitors and panels filled with key boards and other such electrical equipment. The room was dark with the only light coming from the large monitors and the tiny lights on the computers indicating that they were on. The room appeared to be small with the excess of equipment, but considering the amount of machinery in the room, it was actually quite large. Everything was old and faded even with everything appearing to be advanced technology. It did not look like a room that would be in such a rundown neighborhood, even in a doctor's house.

When the doctor flipped a faded, red switch the screens flickered on.

After several moments, faces appeared on the two different monitors.

Dr. Ricketson sat crouched as one of the faces asked for the ETA.

"I have them here." the old man answered. "They are Static and Gear."

"Are you positive, old man?" The person on the right asked.

"We can't afford any screw ups." The other person tagged on.

"I'm positive. Everyone else has been given the cure, and they fit the description." The doctor crouched further under the glare of the two on the screen.

"Then tell us who Static is." One of the young men demanded.

"And Gear." The other one said looking over at his companion.

"...and Gear." The man on the left repeated with a scowl.

"Virgil Hawkins is Static. Richard Foley is Gear."

The screen started to cut off. As it did the doctor heard; "Virgil Hawkins is Static. Isn't that interesting Mr.-"

Dr. Ricketson sighed in relief. "Phase one, complete."

Virgil lifted his head from Richie's chest as the doctor walked back into the room.

"Did you find out what the poison is?" The dark skinned teen asked eagerly.

"Yes. It's no real problem. It should run out of his system with in the next twelve hours. However, I'm going to give him some pills that should speed the process up a little." The doctor popped open a small orange container and took out two solid white pills.

"So, Dr. Ricketson, I was thinking, it must be difficult to run a practice from your crib." Virgil said prodding.

"It isn't. My practice is my life." The doctor held the pills up to Richie's mouth trying to get him to swallow the pills.

"Yeah, but you can't get too many patients out here." Virgil said glancing at his blond friend who was refusing to take the pills to the best of his ability; still too worn out from the poison to be able to move much.

"I get enough." The old man was now trying to get Richie to take the pills forcibly.

"Hold up. Let me talk to him." Virgil said noticing the obvious struggle.

The old man gave in handing Virgil the pills and moving back to his lab.

"Rich, what's up? Why won't you take the pills?" The mocha teen moved closer to his friend placing a hand next to Richie's head.

Richie motioned for Virgil to bring his ear closer. Virgil complied, leaning in so his ear was next to Richie mouth and their cheeks were touching. Virgil was not sure whether the heat was coming from his own face or from Richie's.

"V. It's..." He panted. "Poison."

"Do what now?!" The brown teen stammered, backing away a little and looking at the oblong pills.

"V!" The pale teen said harshly trying to hush his friend.

"Right. Sorry." Virgil moved back to where they could maintain a quiet conversation. This time he was not close enough to Richie for them to be touching, but his face was close enough where he could feel Richie's shallow breathing and close enough he was glad the other teen had his eyes closed (looking into his eyes would be too much...Virgil would have to think about these feelings later).

"The...the poison...from the...monkey." Richie had run out of air.

"What about it?" The dark teen placed a hand on the side of the pale teens flushed face, fingers sliding on sweat.

"Food poisoning." The blond teen panted out.

"Rich, I know your sick and all, but I don't think you can get food poisoning from a monkey...not without eating it at least." Virgil said confused.

"No...V. It's like...food poisoning."

"Oh." Virgil had to think about it for a moment. "So that means you don't really need a doctor?"

Richie shook his head slightly.

"Then why's the doctor trying to poison you?" Virgil looked at the pills still in his hand.

Richie once again shook his head. "Let's go." He attempted to push himself up from the bed. Virgil moved his hand from his friends face to allow him to move better, but the light skinned teen fell back down after only an inch or two.

"Rich!" Virgil said worried. He slipped an arm under his best friends and started to pull him off the bed.

"Grab my clothes." The blond teen pointed in the direction of his discarded pants.

Virgil did as he was told. While picking them up, three small bags fell out unnoticed as well as a cell phone and a few pens.

The boys were almost to the door, Virgil's hand on the knob, when a sudden bout of vertigo struck the dark haired boy, causing him to collapse.

Richie could not support his own weight much less the weight of his heavier friend. Both of them crumpled to the ground in a heap.

Virgil, though his head was swimming, tried to stand up bringing Richie along with him. He yanked the front door open and fell out onto the porch.

He could no longer crawl. Richie had been drug on the ground enough as it was and both teens had no strength left. Virgil passed out inches from the stairs. The white pills were still clenched in his hand.

Dr. Ricketson walked out of his lab with a small, handheld T.V. device in his hand. On the screen were the two young men who had been on the monitors in the lab.

"What should I do with them now?" The old man asked staring down at the heap of beige and brown skin.

"Bring Gear to us. We'll let Virgil suffer a little longer." The young man with glasses said before both started laughing in a lame sort of meniacle mannner.

* * *

a/n: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Future chapters will introduce a new pairing, if you can guess what that is. Also, the pairing will have a little Richie thrown in there, because after watching an episode (I don't want to give anything away if you can't already figure it out) I thought it would kind of interesting. Anyway, reviews are always appreciated, so please do. Thank you for reading. ^^


	13. Chapter 9

Dr. Ricketson sat down in a gray swivel chair that was in front of large T.V. monitors and panels filled with key boards and other such electrical equipment. The room was dark with the only light coming from the large monitors and the tiny lights on the computers indicating that they were on. The room appeared to be small with the excess of equipment, but considering the amount of machinery in the room, it was actually quite large. Everything was old and faded even with everything appearing to be advanced technology. It did not look like a room that would be in such a rundown neighborhood, even in a doctor's house.

When the doctor flipped a faded, red switch the screens flickered on.

After several moments, faces appeared on the two different monitors.

Dr. Ricketson sat crouched as one of the faces asked for the ETA.

"I have them here." the old man answered. "They are Static and Gear."

"Are you positive, old man?" The person on the right asked.

"We can't afford any screw ups." The other person tagged on.

"I'm positive. Everyone else has been given the cure, and they fit the description." The doctor crouched further under the glare of the two on the screen.

"Then tell us who Static is." One of the young men demanded.

"And Gear." The other one said looking over at his companion.

"...and Gear." The man on the left repeated with a scowl.

"Virgil Hawkins is Static. Richard Foley is Gear."

The screen started to cut off. As it did the doctor heard; "Virgil Hawkins is Static. Isn't that interesting Mr.-"

Dr. Ricketson sighed in relief. "Phase one, complete."

Virgil stood up from where he had sat down near the bed Richie was occupying as the doctor walked back into the room.

"Did you find out what the poison is?" The dark skinned teen asked eagerly.

"Yes. It's no real problem. It should run out of his system with in the next twelve hours. However, I'm going to give him some pills that should speed the process up a little." The doctor popped open a small orange container and took out two solid white pills.

"So, Dr. Ricketson, I was thinking, it must be difficult to run a practice from your crib." Virgil said prodding.

"It isn't. My practice is my life." The doctor held the pills up to Richie's mouth trying to get him to swallow the pills.

"Yeah, but you can't get too many patients out here." Virgil said glancing at his blond friend who was refusing to take the pills to the best of his ability; still too worn out from the poison to be able to move much.

"I get enough." The old man was now trying to get Richie to take the pills forcibly.

"Hold up. Let me talk to him." Virgil said noticing the obvious struggle.

The old man gave in handing Virgil the pills and moving back to his lab.

"Rich, what's up? Why won't you take the pills?" The mocha teen moved closer to his friend.

Richie motioned for Virgil to bring his ear closer. "V. It's..." He panted. "Poison."

"Do what now?!" The brown teen stammered, backing away a little and looking at the oblong pills.

"V!" The pale teen said harshly trying to hush his friend.

"Right. Sorry." Virgil moved back to where they could maintain a quiet conversation.

"The...the poison...from the...monkey." Richie had run out of air.

"What about it?" The dark teen placed a hand on a flushed shoulder, leaning closer.

"Food poisoning." The blond teen panted out.

"Rich, I know your sick and all, but I don't think you can get food poisoning from a monkey...not without eating it at least." Virgil said confused.

"No...V. It's like...food poisoning."

"Oh." Virgil had to think about it for a moment. "So that means you don't really need a doctor?"

Richie shook his head slightly.

"Then why's the doctor trying to poison you?" Virgil looked at the pills still in his hand.

Richie once again shook his head. "Let's go." He attempted to push himself up from the bed, but fell back down after an inch or two.

"Rich!" Virgil said worried. He slipped an arm under his best friends and started to pull him off the bed.

"Grab my clothes." The blond teen pointed in the direction of his discarded pants.

Virgil did as he was told. While picking them up, three small bags fell out unnoticed as well as a cell phone and a few pens.

The boys were almost to the door, Virgil's hand on the knob, when a sudden bout of vertigo struck the dark haired boy, causing him to collapse.

Richie could not support his own weight much less the weight of his heavier friend. Both of them crumpled to the ground in a heap.

Virgil, though his head was swimming, tried to stand up bringing Richie along with him. He yanked the front door open and fell out onto the porch.

He could no longer crawl. Richie had been drug on the ground enough as it was and both teens had no strength left. Virgil passed out inches from the stairs. The white pills were still clenched in his hand.

Dr. Ricketson walked out of his lab with a small, handheld T.V. device in his hand. On the screen were the two young men who had been on the monitors in the lab.

"What should I do with them now?" The old man asked staring down at the heap of beige and brown skin.

"Bring Gear to us. We'll let Virgil suffer a little longer." The young man with glasses said before both started laughing in a lame sort of meniacle mannner.

* * *

a/n: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. New characters have been introduced. I don't know if you could figure out who, but the next chapter will have more of them. Reviews are alway appriciated, so please do. Thank you for reading. ^^


	14. Chapter 10 Slash

Virgil Hawkins woke up to find the old, cluttered house empty. Richie was no longer at his side and the doctor had disappeared.

He lifted himself up off of the dusty, wooden floor, letting go of the pills as he stood up. He smashed the pills will his foot, clenching his fist and growling. "Not again."

The dark teen did a thorough search of the house to try and dispel his suspicions, but it was to no avail. He was now fairly certain that his best friend and partner had once again been kidnapped, only this time he had absolutely no lead as to where the other teen might be. Richie did not have his shock vox or cell phone on him and there was no other way to track him down.

Virgil did know that the doctor had to have something to do with it, and if he was any good at guessing, which he seemed to be, the orangutan also had something to do with it. Virgil, therefore, took the bags of DNA, (Richie's cell phone), and a few of the photos that were covering the bookshelf. One of them had to lead to the whereabouts of the doctor.

Slipping his mask back on, Virgil pulled a piece of metal off the counter top in the kitchen and magnetized it so he could fly back to the gas station where the needed technology would be.

The brown superhero took to the sky, looking around for only a second before deciding on the direction Dakota would be in.

"Hang on, Rich. I'll be there as fast as I can." Virgil mumbled kicking the piece of metal into high gear.

* * *

Richie cracked his eyes open to notice two things. Three really if you count what he already knew was going to happen.

One, he had once again been captured and was strapped to a table that was sitting up at an angle.

Two, he was no longer feeling like he was about to die. He still had a headache and his back was murdering him, but he could breath and his face was not on fire.

Three, before him were two young men, who he knew very well had a history of kidnapping. Never him, but several others, so he was not really that shocked.

A forth thought popped into his head as he moved it to look around. He was not wearing his helmet. He had not been Gear when he was kidnapped, which was the most confusing thing about the situation. He could understand them wanting to kidnap Gear, but not Richie Foley. They did not even know him.

The blond boy pulled at his arms. Not only was his torso strapped in, but his arms were tightly wrapped in as well. His legs were chained to the floor beneath him.

Thought five: he was still in his underwear.

Richie felt the blush cover his entire body as the blond one of the two young men turned around noticing Richie's conscious state.

"Look, Mr. Specs. The subjects awake." The tan, blond man said turning to the brunette with glasses.

The young man with brown hair (although it had a slightly red tint) stood up, followed by the blond one, and walked in Richie's direction.

"So he is Mr. Trapper. Shall the...experiment begin." The glassed man said getting uncomfortably close to Richie.

The pale boy cringed away the best he could being held down by the belts. He did not like the way Mr. Specs had said experiment. Something about it implied that he would be the test subject.

Specs and Trapper were now crowding close to him, and their size coupled with their overconfident, over baring personalities, was rather intimidating for the usually outspoken teen.

Eventually Richie did manage to find words. "Why do have me here? You can't get anything out of me."

"Oh, but I think we can. Isn't that right, Mr. Specs?" The tan blond turned between his companion and Richie and leaned against the table holding the teenager up, his arm supporting his head.

"That's right, Mr. Trapper. We have ourselves a bonified superhero." Specs said looking at Trapper then back at Richie with a hint of a scowl.

Richie was noticeably shocked for a moment, but reigned in his emotions quickly and spat, "I don't know what your talking about."

"I think you do, Gear." Trapper emphasized the last word leaning in closer so their faces were inches apart. Specs turned his back towards them.

"Y-you're wrong." Richie stumbled. "I'm not Gear."

"I think you are." The darker young man said.

"Now we won't you to do something for us." Specs continued pulling his friend away from the trapped teen.

"I would never do anything for you. Even if I was Gear." Richie said adamant on deny his superhero alias.

"We'll see about that." Specs said walking back towards the computers they had been working on previously.

"Static," Trapper said holding a hand to the side.

"Or should we say Virgil." Specs continued with a smirk.

"Will show up eventually." Trapper finished.

Richie now really looked panicked. "He's not Static."

"Oh, but Static will come save you." Specs said typing something on one of the computers.

"We guarantee it." Trapper said leaning his back against the table. A little red dot appeared on a digital map that seemed to cover Dakota, Gotham, and whatever city they were in.

* * *

a/n: Sorry, this chapter maybe a little bit too obvious, but I'd like to get your opinions on it. So please review.

I'm holding the next chapter hostage until I get reviews... actually, I'm not. It'll just be awhile since next week is exam week and I'm only taking 18 hrs. So it'll probably be the beginning of May before chapter 11.


	15. Chapter 10

Virgil Hawkins woke up to find the old, cluttered house empty. Richie was no longer at his side and the doctor had disappeared.

He lifted himself up off of the dusty, wooden floor, letting go of the pills as he stood up. He smashed the pills will his foot, clenching his fist and growling. "Not again."

The dark teen did a thorough search of the house to try and dispel his suspicions, but it was to no avail. He was now fairly certain that his best friend and partner had once again been kidnapped, only this time he had absolutely no lead as to where the other teen might be. Richie did not have his shock vox or cell phone on him and there was no other way to track him down.

Virgil did know that the doctor had to have something to do with it, and if he was any good at guessing, which he seemed to be, the orangutan also had something to do with it. Virgil, therefore, took the bags of DNA, (Richie's cell phone), and a few of the photos that were covering the bookshelf. One of them had to lead to the whereabouts of the doctor.

Slipping his mask back on, Virgil pulled a piece of metal off the counter top in the kitchen and magnetized it so he could fly back to the gas station where the needed technology would be.

The brown superhero took to the sky, looking around for only a second before deciding on the direction Dakota would be in.

"Hang on, Rich. I'll be there as fast as I can." Virgil mumbled kicking the piece of metal into high gear.

* * *

Richie cracked his eyes open to notice two things. Three really if you count what he already knew was going to happen.

One, he had once again been captured and was strapped to a table that was sitting up at an angle.

Two, he was no longer feeling like he was about to die. He still had a headache and his back was murdering him, but he could breath and his face was not on fire.

Three, before him were two young men, who he knew very well had a history of kidnapping. Never him, but several others, so he was not really that shocked.

A forth thought popped into his head as he moved it to look around. He was not wearing his helmet. He had not been Gear when he was kidnapped, which was the most confusing thing about the situation. He could understand them wanting to kidnap Gear, but not Richie Foley. They did not even know him.

The blond boy pulled at his arms. Not only was his torso strapped in, but his arms were tightly wrapped in as well. His legs were chained to the floor beneath him.

Thought five: he was still in his underwear.

Richie felt the blush cover his entire body as the blond one of the two young men turned around noticing Richie's conscious state.

"Look, Mr. Specs. The subjects awake." The tan, blond man said turning to the brunette with glasses.

The young man with brown hair (although it had a slightly red tint) stood up, followed by the blond one, and walked in Richie's direction.

"So he is Mr. Trapper. Shall the...experiment begin." The glassed man said getting uncomfortably close to Richie.

The pale boy cringed away the best he could being held down by the belts. He did not like the way Mr. Specs had said experiment. Something about it implied that he would be the test subject.

Specs and Trapper were now crowding close to him, and their size coupled with their overconfident, over baring personalities, was rather intimidating for the usually outspoken teen.

Eventually Richie did manage to find words. "Why do have me here? You can't get anything out of me."

"Oh, but I think we can. Isn't that right, Mr. Specs?" The tan blond turned between his companion and Richie.

"That's right, Mr. Trapper. We have ourselves a bonified superhero." Specs said looking at Trapper then back at Richie.

Richie was noticeably shocked for a moment, but reigned in his emotions quickly and spat, "I don't know what your talking about."

"I think you do, Gear." Trapper emphasized the last word.

"Y-you're wrong." Richie stumbled. "I'm not Gear."

"I think you are." The darker young man said.

"Now we won't you to do something for us." Specs continued.

"I would never do anything for you. Even if I was Gear." Richie said adamant on deny his superhero alias.

"We'll see about that." Specs said walking back towards the computers they had been working on previously.

"Static," Trapper said holding a hand to the side.

"Or should we say Virgil." Specs continued with a smirk.

"Will show up eventually." Trapper finished.

Richie now really looked panicked. "He's not Static."

"Oh, but Static will come save you." Specs said typing something on one of the computers.

"We guarantee it." Trapper said as a little red dot appeared on a digital map that seemed to cover Dakota, Gotham, and the city they were currently in.

* * *

a/n: Sorry. Another Richie kidnap fic, but he's just so kidnappable. I didn't really get this idea until I re-watched Where the Rubber Meets the Road, and thought Specs and Trapper would get along pretty well with Gear if they weren't enemies. And thus this, so please don't hate me for it! Review please!

I'm holding the next chapter hostage until I get reviews... actually, I'm not. It'll just be awhile since next week is exam week and I'm only taking 18 hrs. So it'll probably be the beginning of May before chapter 11.


	16. Chapter 11 Slash

The red dot on the screen was moving from the city they were currently in, in the direction of the-. Richie was struck with the sudden realization; that dot must be Virgil.

'Oh crap. This isn't good. They'll find the gas station and they'll know when he's coming here. 'Cause he will come here. That's why he's moving so fast to the gas station, and they'll know for sure that Virgil is Static and-'

Richie's thoughts were cut short as Mr. Specs walked out and slammed the door, apparently angry at Mr. Trapper.

Mr. Trapper was rubbing the back of his neck looking away from where Mr. Specs had been previously sitting.

"So I'm guessing your plans not going so smoothly?" Richie said with a hint of a smirk in his voice. Prodding was probably the best way to distract them from Virgil/Static.

"Shut up, grunt!" Trapper growled out as he walked out of the room slamming the door as well.

"Was it something I said?" Richie joked attempting to look in the direction of the door Specs and Trapper had surprisingly not broke. However he could not see the door. The table he was strapped to was near the middle of the large room that looked like it may have been a high school science lab. The door faced off the side of the room therefore making it behind a wall which Richie could not see around. The rest of the room was filled with long black top tables and large mega computers with two small computers to Richie's right.

"Sweet set-up they got here. Wonder if they'll let me take a crack at it?" The blond teen mumbled watching as the red dot stopped at where their gas station would be.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Virgil rushed back to the gas station as quickly as he could make the piece of metal go. Not bothering to stop to open the door he used his powers and flew straight into the station where Richie had set up an analyzer for DNA and a data base with all of Dakota's residence as well as criminals from the surrounding cities and a few other things, like mutant bang baby things.

The dark superhero placed the orangutan DNA in the scanner allowing the computer to search through it's data base. He also scanned the picture of the doctor and his family in to the master computer allowing it to search for any information pertaining to Dr. Ricketson.

While the computers were furiously searching for the possible whereabouts of his friend, Virgil had nothing he himself could do except sit and think.

"Dang it, Rich. Why'd you have to choose now to get kidnapped? And just when..." Virgil trailed off not willing to admit the last few words out loud just yet.

'Not when I just realized, I love you.' Virgil thought.

It wasn't that he hadn't loved him before. It was just that the physical part of the 'romantic' love was just recently starting to develop.

It had all started about a week before the bank incident. Richie was asleep in the gas station, after staying up late to finish one of his projects, come to think of it it might have been the DNA scanner. Virgil had walked in to notice his sleeping friend. His head was laying on a sharp looking piece of metal and his glasses were still on pressing what must have been uncomfortably into the side of his head.

Virgil had smiled, thinking about how much Richie had changed since he became Gear. He was still cheesy and nerdy and a little bit geeky, but now he was a genius on top of all the things Virgil loved about him.

The dark teen didn't find anything weird or odd about saying he loved his best friend. Of coarse he did; they were best friends and had been for a long time. Richie being a super genius just made him love the other teen more.

What Virgil found odd that night was his desire to run his fingers through the soft, blond hair of his unsuspecting friend.

Being the good friend he was (yeah right) Virgil moved Richie from leaning on the pile of sharp metal to the couch, his friend letting out a very groggy and subconscious, "Oh hey, V."

Virgil had layed Richie's head in his lap -not selfishly at all- and slipped the other boys glasses off allowing him to sleep more comfortably.

The dark teen hadn't thought anything odd about his feelings then, but now when he thought about it and the other events leading to the night of the strange down pour it made more sense.

A few days after Virgil had let -made- Richie sleep in his lap, they were spending time at the Hawkins house to have a mega monster movie marathon. Pops and Sharon were gone to a business training conference something or another and the house was empty, something that had been occurring frequently since Sharon had taken a full time position at the center.

Richie had gotten up to get a soda or something from the refrigerator and Virgil had taken this opportunity to sprawl across the entire couch.

The blond teen had come back into the room with a cute pout one his face. (The cute part tipping Virgil off a little bit to his feelings.)

"Come on, V. Move over." Richie had said.

When the mocha teen had refused, Richie had sat on his outstretched legs -like Virgil knew he would- near the top of his thighs.

The dark teen would be lying if he said he was upset about his friends choice of seat. The blush had crept to his face, but the room was dark enough for Richie not to notice, and the house was warm enough for Virgil to justify it to himself. Although, he had a little more difficulty justifying to himself or Richie why half way through Attack of the Killer Cows, he had grabbed the pale teen around the waist and pulled him down to laying in front of him on the made-for-one-person couch, so he didn't. He just ignored it and hoped that Richie would do the same.

Virgil put his head in his hands and shook his head. How could he not have seen it sooner? Why did it have to take Richie being hurt, poisoned, and kidnapped -although he doubted that made a difference- for him to realized he really wanted to be more then friends?

The couch incident wasn't the last before the night of the fire. The night before, or of depending on how you count days, the bank non-robbery Richie had been sleeping over, this was nothing new, and he had taken a shower while over; that wasn't new either. What was new was, when the pale teen had walked out of the bathroom sweating from steam, dripping from wet hair and wearing nothing but a t-shirt and red boxers (his usual bed wear) Virgil had to advert his eyes and refused to be within two feet of his best friend.

If that hadn't tipped Richie off, which apparently it didn't, then that night when they went to bed, after he was sure the blond was asleep, Virgil started running a finger softly up and down his friends exposed arm. He trailed his finger up to the angled contours of Richie's face and ran a thumb over his increasingly more masculine jaw line.

At the time he was doing it, Virgil found nothing odd about it -probably from the late hour. Now that he thought about it though, he definitely wanted Richie. He certainly wanted to be more then friends. The dark skinned teen just hoped that if he was able to rescue Richie -which he would- the other teen would be feeling the same for him.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Virgil knew from experience that the data base would take at least an hour to find the information he was looking for, therefore he decided to go back to his house and check on his father and sister to see how they were dealing with the whole 'Static is dead' thing knowing he is Static. Sharon found out shortly after his father.

They had had a good run for about three weeks until Virgil's father could not longer justify to her why he let Virgil slide on all of his chores causing Sharon to have to pick up the slack. When she had demanded answers, and using "I'm your father, do as I say" no longer cut it, he had just let it slip. She had taken it surprisingly well; she had yelled for only about ten minutes, but then let her baby brother off the hook and said she was actually proud of him.

As Virgil entered the house, he found his family watching videos of him as a child and crying on the couch.

"Hey, Pops, Sharon! I'm not dead. I'm fine." Virgil said waving his arms and moving in front of the T.V.

"He was so young." Robert said wiping tears from his eyes.

"I still am." Virgil moved closer to them waving his harms.

"I knew it was a bad idea for him to be a superhero. I knew something bad would happen." Sharon said laying her head on her fathers shoulder.

"No, it wasn't! I'm still alive!" Virgil practically yelled.

"He was so much like his mother. All he wanted to do was help people." Robert said sadly, but with a little pride.

"I still am. What's with you people? Can't you see-" At that moment it dawned on him. "Oooh. You can't see me. All those people-" He hit his palm with his fist, "That's why they wouldn't respond to me."

Virgil ran out of the house heading back to the gas station as quickly as he could on his saucer. He did not bother putting his mask back on since he came to the conclusion that no one could see him.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Richie had gotten tired of waiting for the two geniuses to come back and had, despite his nervousness about the whole situation, fallen asleep in a half standing up position. His head was leaned on his shoulder in a very uncomfortable manner.

The blond boy woke up to the feel of calloused-from-typing fingers brushing along his jaw line. He was immediately startled to full awareness.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?!" Richie could not help but scream.

"I don't think your in any position to be speaking to me like that." Mr. Trapper said moving his hand away from Richie's pale, and getting paler by the moment, face.

The tan young man walked over to the large monitor that had the maps of Dakota and such on it. Richie hoped he would not notice that the red dot had stopped moving and had actually been sedentary for quiet sometime.

Much to the teens dismay, Trapper noticed immediately, and the first thing he did was go back through the last several minutes of footage to see how long the dot had rested in that particular spot. When he had found that it had been for nearly an hour he pressed the zoom button. Once, the city line came into view. Twice, Richie could easily recognize the area. Three time, Richie could see the gas station but there were enough surrounding buildings that Virgil could be at anyone of them.

The blond young man went to press the button once more when Richie panicked and blurted out: "Didn't know you swung that way. In fact I thought you may have been _asexual_." Richie emphasized the last word trying to make it as insulting as possible.

"What are you talking about?" The young man said clearly not getting the meaning of Richie's insults.

"Dude. You're gay." The blond teen said too tired to continue beating around the bush.

Mr. Trapper looked astonished. No reply came to him.

'Checkmate' Richie thought as the long haired young man stopped typing on the key board in front of the largest computer.

Mr. Specs took that moment to walk back into the room. Richie and Mr. Trapper stared at him.

"I forgot my research." He mumbled out. "Do whatever the heck you want."

Trapper stood up and quickly, although a little hesitantly, made his way over to his brunette friend.

"Mr. Specs, our relationships above that, right?" Trapper said almost desperately.

"Above what?" Specs was annoyed if not a little concerned.

"Homo-" The blond man grabbed on to the front of Specs white t-shirt. "sexual."

The paler young man was confused for a moment. "What are you talking about, Trapper?"

"We're not gay, Specs. We're better then that." Trapper said clinging closer to his friends chest and closing his eyes.

"Mr. Trapper..." Specs was shell shocked. Emotions had very rarely played into their friendship, and they were both guys and had been more or less dating for the past four years. All he could think to do was put an arm around his friends shoulder and ask, "What do you think our...what we've..." Specs rubbed the brim of his nose and pushed his glasses back up. Maybe bringing the grunt here, genius or not, was a bad idea.

"Mr. Specs?" Trapper pushed trying to get an answer.

Specs responded by grabbing the back of the tan young mans head, entwining his fingers in blond hair, and pulling him up into a gentle but passionate kiss.

"Didn't see that coming." Richie said watching the two in the middle of their heated moment.

"Shut up, grunt!" Specs snapped pulling away for only a second. Trapper's hand had made it's way to the back of the brunettes head and was pulling him in for another kiss when an alarm sounded.

The two young men quickly pulled away from each other.

"Mr. Trapper, get the alarm!" The bespectacled young man commanded.

"I'm on it Mr. Specs." The blond young man complied flipping a switch which successfully shut the blaring alarm off.

"He's moving in this direction! Get the trap ready." Mr. Specs told Mr. Trapper as he grabbed a printed out graph and ran out of the room.

"Looks like our 'experiment will be beginning real soon." Mr. Trapper said to Richie as he printed out more data and left the room as well.

'Not good. Not good. Not good.' The blond teen mentally repeated to himself trying to think of a plan, which was difficult to do since he still could not fully asses the situation. Richie just hoped that Virgil had had the presence of mind to bring backpack with him.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

A/n: I have updated this chapter a lot sooner then I meant too. I should have been studying for my three exams that are tomorrow, but I really just wanted to do this instead. This chapter had a considerable amount of slash in it. Some VR fluff, and what I really loved the SpecsTrapper stuff. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading, and please review.

Btw: If anyone knows where I can download Static Shock episodes, please tell me. I'm trying to make a video and I can't find any episodes, so that would be appreciated.


	17. Chapter 11

The red dot on the screen was moving from the city they were currently in, in the direction of the-. Richie was struck with the sudden realization; that dot must be Virgil.

'Oh crap. This isn't good. They'll find the gas station and they'll know when he's coming here. 'Cause he will come here. That's why he's moving so fast to the gas station, and they'll know for sure that Virgil is Static and-'

Richie's thoughts were cut short as Mr. Specs walked out and slammed the door, apparently angry at Mr. Trapper.

Mr. Trapper was rubbing the back of his neck looking away from where Mr. Specs had been previously sitting.

"So I'm guessing your plans not going so smoothly?" Richie said with a hint of a smirk in his voice. Prodding was probably the best way to distract them from Virgil/Static.

"Shut up, grunt!" Trapper growled out as he walked out of the room slamming the door as well.

"Was it something I said?" Richie joked attempting to look in the direction of the door Specs and Trapper had surprisingly not broke. However he could not see the door. The table he was strapped to was near the middle of the large room that looked like it may have been a high school science lab. The door faced off the side of the room therefore making it behind a wall which Richie could not see around. The rest of the room was filled with long black top tables and large mega computers with two small computers to Richie's left.

"Sweet set-up they got here. Wonder if they'll let me take a crack at it?" The blond teen mumbled watching as the red dot stopped at where their gas station would be.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Virgil rushed back to the gas station as quickly as he could make the piece of metal go. Not bothering to stop to open the door he used his powers and flew straight into the station where Richie had set up an analyzer for DNA and a data base with all of Dakota's residence as well as criminals from the surrounding cities and a few other things, like mutant bang baby things.

The dark superhero placed the orangutan DNA in the scanner allowing the computer to search through it's data base. He also scanned the picture of the doctor and his family in to the master computer allowing it to search for any information pertaining to Dr. Ricketson.

Virgil knew from experience that the data base would take at least an hour to find the information he was looking for, therefore he decided to go back to his house and check on his father and sister to see how they were dealing with the whole 'Static is dead' thing knowing he is Static. Sharon found out shortly after his father.

They had had a good run for about three weeks until Virgil's father could not longer justify to her why he let Virgil slide on all of his chores causing Sharon to have to pick up the slack. When she had demanded answers, and using "I'm your father, do as I say" no longer cut it, he had just let it slip. She had taken it surprisingly well; she had yelled for only about ten minutes, but then let her baby brother off the hook and said she was actually proud of him.

As Virgil entered the house, he found his family watching videos of him as a child and crying on the couch.

"Hey, Pops, Sharon! I'm not dead. I'm fine." Virgil said waving his arms and moving in front of the T.V.

"He was so young." Robert said wiping tears from his eyes.

"I still am." Virgil moved closer to them waving his harms.

"I knew it was a bad idea for him to be a superhero. I knew something bad would happen." Sharon said laying her head on her fathers shoulder.

"No, it wasn't! I'm still alive!" Virgil practically yelled.

"He was so much like his mother. All he wanted to do was help people." Robert said sadly, but with a little pride.

"I still am. What's with you people? Can't you see-" At that moment it dawned on him. "Oooh. You can't see me. All those people-" He hit his palm with his fist, "That's why they wouldn't respond to me."

Virgil ran out of the house heading back to the gas station as quickly as he could on his saucer. He did not bother putting his mask back on since he came to the conclusion that no one could see him.

"Man. Now I really gotta find Richie." He said sure that his genius friend would be able to figure everything out.

_

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Richie had gotten tired of waiting for the two geniuses to come back and had, despite his nervousness about the whole situation, fallen asleep in a half standing up position. His head was leaned on his shoulder in a very uncomfortable manner.

The blond teen woke up to the sound of an alarm going off. Specs and Trapper had both come back into the room were watching the screen where the red dot had stopped and stayed for a relatively long time, with a brief period where it had moved about a mile away.

"Mr. Trapper, get the alarm!" The bespectacled young man commanded.

"I'm on it Mr. Specs." The blond young man complied flipping a switch which successfully shut the blaring alarm off.

"He's moving in this direction! Get the trap ready." Mr. Specs told Mr. Trapper as he grabbed a printed out graph and ran out of the room.

"Looks like our 'experiment will be beginning real soon." Mr. Trapper said to Richie as he printed out more data and left the room as well.

'Not good. Not good. Not good.' The blond teen mentally repeated to himself trying to think of a plan, which was difficult to do since he still could not fully asses the situation. Richie just hoped that Virgil had had the presence of mind to bring backpack with him.

______________________________________________________________________________________

A/n: So instead of studying I have decided to upload a new chapter for this fanfiction...the day before three of my finals... Anyway, this chapter turned out longer then I had origanally planed, but I hope you have enjoyed it anyway.

Thank you for reading. Please review.

btw: If anyone knows where I can download episodes of Static Shock please tell me. I'm trying to make a video, but all I have is pictures, and that doesn't work so well.


	18. Chapter 12 Slash

Virgil (as he was not wearing his mask, just the uniform) flew from the gas station as fast as he could in the direction of that the data base had given him. It turned out Dr. Ricketson had been a real doctor...at one point in time.

He used to work at the largest medical/research facility in the city neighboring Dakota. The doctor, along with the lab, had been shut down due to 'shady' practices.

Practices the data base had not told Virgil, but he could guess; not much but human experimentation was considered shady.

It was not guaranteed Richie would be there, but the chances were fairly high, because where else would on ex-doctor who used to experiment on people take someone he had kidnapped?

There was something odder then that going on however. There was no information regarding the other people in any of the photographs, which wasn't that odd except, since the computer data base had information on the doctor it should have information on relatives and such, since it usually did.

That was not the only oddity. The DNA from the orangutan also turned no results. If it had been any kind of animal or bang baby that would have shown up at least, but in every category, the only thing that came up was "unknown."

"I hope when I get there," Virgil mumbled, "Richie won't already be a giant monkey."

Richie renewed his struggling when he realized the two young men went to capture Static and the fact that they knew it was Virgil made him pull that much harder.

He knew that if he could manage to free one arm then he would be able to loosen the others enough to get free.

Analyzing the straps by feel- he could see without his glasses, but detail was harder to make out- he could tell they were made of leather. It would be difficult, but they could be stretched enough for him to slip out. He could also tell that the straps were not belts. They were most likely just tied in knots. He If he could pull the knots tight enough, that should loosen the straps enough for him to slip out.

With all this running through his head the blond teen began pushing his arms forward as far as they would go; pushing the leather to it's limits, leaving about a quarter centimeter from the top of his wrist, not enough room to slip out of.

After putting fourth effort eight or nine times, Richie came to another discovery: he was still rather sapped of strength. Richie had forgotten he had gotten wounded which would take at least two weeks for the skin to move back over the scab; close enough to being healed for him. Now that he thought about it, the wound on his head probably wasn't helping either.

The progress he had made on the straps was small, but there was now enough room where he could slip the very bottom of his hand under, but that's as far as it went.

"Great." Richie said sarcastically. "A hundred more tries and then sweet freedom."

Specs and Trapper rushed around the outside of a large, gray building. The word "institution" was written on the front in large white letters. Another word had been in front of it, but appeared to be burned or lazered off.

The young man with glasses was setting up what looked like drive way lights in a rectangle. The other young man was busy setting up hologram generators in front of various doors and windows. Some of them created the illusion that the area was older and others that the area was newer. The entire left side of the building made to look older.

The rectangle was on the other side of the building guarding the doors that were now new looking and easier looking to get in.

"Finished Mr. Specs." The blond young man said putting the last hologram projector in place.

"I'll go prepare the subject."

"Great." Specs shouted, flipping on the "drive way lights" which created a blue laser force field.

"I'll catch Static."

Mr. Trapper walked back into the science lab where Richie was being held captive. The teens struggles had only brought him close enough to pulling his left hand out, but close enough didn't cut it when his wrist was already rubbed raw and only up to his thumb knuckle could fit through the strap.

Much to his dismay, this did not go unnoticed buy the older male. Mr. Trapper lethargically tightened the knot (confirming Richie's suspicion that it was tied in a knot). Trapper pressed his body flush against Richie's holding the hands that had been strapped down.

"What are you doing?" the blond teenager said beginning to struggle fruitlessly.

"You'll see." Mr. Trapper replied pressing his chest closer. "Just stop struggling." He more or less growled moving one hand to grip Richie's head. After several intense moments of hard breathing and struggling on the defensive side Mr. Trapper roughly forced his his lips on to the younger boys. Richie tried furiously to pull away, but the tan young mans hands held his head firmly in place.

Several moments passed before Richie no longer had the energy to fight. He had not eaten in over twenty four hours and the wounds and poisoning he had sustained did not help any. Trapper took advantage of the teenagers attempt to breath in through his mouth, and slipped his tongue inside.

The moment of pleasure (for Mr. Trapper only) was short lived, however. Seconds after the act had started, Mr. Specs walked into the room to be shocked only for a moment.

"Trapper." He harshly growled out grabbing his blond friends ponytail and yanking back with more force then was necessary. He let go as immediately as Mr. Trapper was off the young super genius.

"What was that for?" Trapper spit out rubbing the back of his head where his hair was being held in a blue hair band.

"For acting like a common...grunt!" Mr. Specs said for a lack of a better word. "I thought you were above that."

Mr. Specs turned his back towards his blond friend. Richie just watched in complete confusing.

Trapper looked down obviously disappointed. "Above what, Specs?" He quietly mumbled.

Specs turned back towards Trapper shocked and confused. When no reply came to him, he turned and stormed out of the room.

Sighing Mr. Trapper went over to one of the cabinets to pull out a large container of purple liquid in what seemed to be a milk jug, and syringe.

Mr. Trapper pushed the needle into the side of the milk jug and extracted 6.5 mg.

"This won't hurt a bit," Trapper said, malicious grin in place, as he approached Richie, pushing the air bubbles out of the liquid.

"W-what is that?" Richie asked trying to keep his voice steady.

"Nothing that concerns you." Trapper pushed the needle into Richie's right arm just above the elbow.

"Somehow I think it does." The blond teen said.

Seconds later spots began swimming in front of his eyes and his blood turned icy cold even as his skin felt like it was burning. He wanted to ask what was happening, but all that came out was a garbled, distant sounding, scream.

a/n: Sorry it took so long. After exams I really just didn't feel like writing, then I got onto more of a SpecTrapper kick, so hopefully my other fanfiction will cure that. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Please review.


	19. Chapter 12

Virgil (as he was not wearing his mask, just the uniform) flew from the gas station as fast as he could in the direction of that the data base had given him. It turned out Dr. Ricketson had been a real doctor...at one point in time.

He used to work at the largest medical/research facility in the city neighboring Dakota. The doctor, along with the lab, had been shut down due to 'shady' practices.

Practices the data base had not told Virgil, but he could guess; not much but human experimentation was considered shady.

It was not guaranteed Richie would be there, but the chances were fairly high, because where else would on ex-doctor who used to experiment on people take someone he had kidnapped?

There was something odder then that going on however. There was no information regarding the other people in any of the photographs, which wasn't that odd except, since the computer data base had information on the doctor it should have information on relatives and such, since it usually did.

That was not the only oddity. The DNA from the orangutan also turned no results. If it had been any kind of animal or bang baby that would have shown up at least, but in every category, the only thing that came up was "unknown."

"I hope when I get there," Virgil mumbled, "Richie won't already be a giant monkey."

Richie renewed his struggling when he realized the two young men went to capture Static and the fact that they knew it was Virgil made him pull that much harder.

He knew that if he could manage to free one arm then he would be able to loosen the others enough to get free.

Analyzing the straps by feel- he could see without his glasses, but detail was harder to make out- he could tell they were made of leather. It would be difficult, but they could be stretched enough for him to slip out. He could also tell that the straps were not belts. They were most likely just tied in knots. He If he could pull the knots tight enough, that should loosen the straps enough for him to slip out.

With all this running through his head the blond teen began pushing his arms forward as far as they would go; pushing the leather to it's limits, leaving about a quarter centimeter from the top of his wrist, not enough room to slip out of.

After putting fourth effort eight or nine times, Richie came to another discovery: he was still rather sapped of strength. Richie had forgotten he had gotten wounded which would take at least two weeks for the skin to move back over the scab; close enough to being healed for him. Now that he thought about it, the wound on his head probably wasn't helping either.

The progress he had made on the straps was small, but there was now enough room where he could slip the very bottom of his hand under, but that's as far as it went.

"Great." Richie said sarcastically. "A hundred more tries and then sweet freedom."

Specs and Trapper rushed around the outside of a large, gray building. The word "institution" was written on the front in large white letters. Another word had been in front of it, but appeared to be burned or lazered off.

The young man with glasses was setting up what looked like drive way lights in a rectangle. The other young man was busy setting up hologram generators in front of various doors and windows. Some of them created the illusion that the area was older and others that the area was newer. The entire left side of the building made to look older.

The rectangle was on the other side of the building guarding the doors that were now new looking and easier looking to get in.

"Finished Mr. Specs." The blond young man said putting the last hologram projector in place.

"I'll go prepare the subject."

"Great." Specs shouted, flipping on the "drive way lights" which created a blue laser force field.

"I'll catch Static."

Mr. Trapper walked back into the science lab where Richie was being held captive. The teens struggles had only brought him close enough to pulling his left hand out, but close enough didn't cut it when his wrist was already rubbed raw and only up to his thumb knuckle could fit through the strap.

Much to his dismay, this did not go unnoticed buy the older male. Mr. Trapper lethargically tightened the knot (confirming Richie's suspicion that it was tied in a knot) and went over to one of the cabinets to pull out a large container of purple liquid in what seemed to be a milk jug, and syringe.

Mr. Trapper pushed the needle into the side of the milk jug and extracted 6.5 mg.

"This won't hurt a bit," Trapper said, malicious grin in place, as he approached Richie, pushing the air bubbles out of the liquid.

"W-what is that?" Richie asked trying to keep his voice steady.

"Nothing that concerns you." Trapper pushed the needle into Richie's right arm just above the elbow.

"Somehow I think it does." The blond teen said.

Seconds later spots began swimming in front of his eyes and his blood turned icy cold even as his skin felt like it was burning. He wanted to ask what was happening, but all that came out was a garbled, distant sounding, scream.

a/n: Sorry this took so long. Hopefully I won't take as long to get the next chapter up. I hope you enjoyed this anyway. By the way, new fanart up on my deviantart. Please review!


	20. Chapter 13 Slash

Static had made it to the building that he had assumed housed his best friend and best friend's captors.

It was a normal enough looking building. It looked like your stereotypical institute; one that Virgil wouldn't have been surprised Alva had a hand in.

The bushes were over grown and grass unkempt on one side. The same side also displayed broken windows and rusted doors.

To his surprise, the African-American teen found that the other half of the building was well kept. The doors were shinny, the grass and bushes were cut, and the windows looked like they had been cleaned recently.

Virgil wasn't much into the super villain captor type thing, but he decided that the perpetrators would probably keep up the half of the building that they worked in, while ignoring the other part, so the nicer half of the building was the one he headed to.

An instant later, the dark teen regretted the decision as blue lasers surrounded him. Speeding as fast as he could in the opposite direction of the building (in hopes of escaping the lasers) Virgil hit an invisible wall. He was instantly knocked off of his disk and hit the ground with an impact that left him unable to stand for several moments.

As soon as Virgil had hit the ground, a familiar face walked out, seemingly through the closed window.

"Virgil Hawkins," a tall, brunette young man said, "So you really are Static."

"Mr. Specs." Virgil whispered rubbing his head and trying to get up the energy to get to his feet.

Specs walked over to Static and, taking his disk, grabbed the younger male's wrist, putting blue laser handcuffs in place.

"You can see me?" Virgil asked half shocked, but still dizzy from his fall.

"Of coarse I can." The older male stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I've had the antidote."

"The what?" Now Virgil was really confused.

"Nothing that concerns you, grunt." Specs pulled out a syringe with liquid identical to the one Trapper had previously used on Richie. "Now go to sleep like a good boy." Specs smirked shoving the needle into Virgil's arm.

Trapper wheeled the table that Richie was strapped to a large dark room the was far more primitive then the one they had been to start with. There was very little technology in the room and the walls were surrounded with bared cages where red and blue eyes peered out giving the entire room a haunting feel.

The table that Richie was strapped to was leaned all the way back so the boy was now laying horizontal. Several machines now surrounded him: machines to monitor his pulse, breathing, and electromagnetic brain waves.

Specs entered the room pushing Virgil on a gurney.

Grabbing a small, beetle looking robot, the brunette young man left the room without giving the blond occupant a second glance.

Trapper sighed rubbing the back of his head. He was not entirely sure how he had offended to other man, but he had a suspicion it had something to do with his actions towards the captured youth.

The tan blond considered for a moment whether or not he should leave the captives alone, but decided that the two would not be awake until next morning, and even if they did happen to regain consciousness early there was no way they were escaping the leather confines.

Mr. Trapper had made up his mind; he had to go and talk to the only person who had ever given him the time of day, even if that did mean surrendering his pride.

Trapper found Mr. Specs in the lab that they kept all of their equipment in -the one Richie was originally brought to. Mr. Specs pointedly ignored him.

It did not take long for Mr. Trapper to realize what his friend was doing and groaned acknowledging that he would have to make the first move.

The blond man moved closer to his friend who was sitting at his desktop computer on the side of the room opposite the door where he was observing the robot he had taken from the African-American teens back. Trapper put a hand on the back of Mr. Specs, who growled and scooted his chair forward.

Trapper held firmly to the back of the brunette's chair not letting him escape.

"What?" Specs snapped turning around violently.

"I-" Trapper stumbled, "just, um, wanted to...talk to you." He was not used to reconciling, apologizing, or talking for that matter.

"And?" Mr. Specs pushed half looking at his friend half looking away.

"I don't know what I did, but," He gulped, "I'm sorry."

"You don't know what you did?" The brunette raised an eyebrow. He could not understand how Trapper did not know what he had done to make him upset.

"Well, I have an idea, but no not really." He had let go of the back of the chair and was now standing two or three feet away.

Specs stood up to look directly at Mr. Trapper.

"You're supposed to be mine." Forget trying to make Trapper realize what he did on his own, Specs was freaken ticked.

"What?" The blond male was confused. He and Specs had shared a kiss, but that didn't mean they were actually together, did it?

Now Specs was rather confused. He had thought that they were together. How could the other person in the relationship not know?

"I mean, we are a couple, right?" He asked, all his features softening.

"I don't know." Trapper looked towards the ground, uncharacteristic blush lightly covering his cheeks. "Are we?"

"I thought we were." Specs replied mumbling.

"Oh." That's all the blond man could think to say.

There was several minutes of awkward silence that engulfed the two young men.

Mr. Specs finally got up the nerve to speak. "Do you want to be?"

Trapper looked up rather embarrassed -only Mr. Specs could make him feel that way- and rather stripped of his pride, but none-the-less replied with a quiet 'yes' to which Specs lightly grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room.

"Where are we going?" Trapper inquired.

"Dinner date."

a/n: Sorry that this has taken so long, and that this chapter is really uneventful. I just really couldn't think of anything better, and really I've been watching Zeke and Luther lately, but that show is so very slashy in and of its self (seriously, watch it and write fanfictions, so I can read them). Also, I really apologize for the fact that this is turning into more of a SpecsTrapper thing then VR. I really didn't mean for it to, but this was actually my first favorite slash pairing and I still absolutly love it, but I will try to get some VR in the next one if the events work right.

Anyway, chapter updates will become more frequent once school starts back (hopefully, depending on how boring Polysci is) which will be in less than a week.

On another note, there will most likely be only a few more chapters. So the ending is near (probably).


	21. Chapter 13

Static had made it to the building that he had assumed housed his best friend and best friend's captors.

It was a normal enough looking building. It looked like your stereotypical institute; one that Virgil wouldn't have been surprised Alva had a hand in.

The bushes were over grown and grass unkempt on one side. The same side also displayed broken windows and rusted doors.

To his surprise, the African-American teen found that the other half of the building was well kept. The doors were shinny, the grass and bushes were cut, and the windows looked like they had been cleaned recently.

Virgil wasn't much into the super villain captor type thing, but he decided that the perpetrators would probably keep up the half of the building that they worked in, while ignoring the other part, so the nicer half of the building was the one he headed to.

An instant later, the dark teen regretted the decision as blue lasers surrounded him. Speeding as fast as he could in the opposite direction of the building (in hopes of escaping the lasers) Virgil hit an invisible wall. He was instantly knocked off of his disk and hit the ground with an impact that left him unable to stand for several moments.

As soon as Virgil had hit the ground, a familiar face walked out, seemingly through the closed window.

"Virgil Hawkins," a tall, brunette young man said, "So you really are Static."

"Mr. Specs." Virgil whispered rubbing his head and trying to get up the energy to get to his feet.

Specs walked over to Static and, taking his disk, grabbed the younger male's wrist, putting blue laser handcuffs in place.

"You can see me?" Virgil asked half shocked, but still dizzy from his fall.

"Of coarse I can." The older male stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I've had the antidote."

"The what?" Now Virgil was really confused.

"Nothing that concerns you, grunt." Specs pulled out a syringe with liquid identical to the one Trapper had previously used on Richie. "Now go to sleep like a good boy." Specs smirked shoving the needle into Virgil's arm.

Trapper wheeled the table that Richie was strapped to to a large dark room the was far more primitive then the one they had been to start with. There was very little technology in the room and the walls were surrounded with bared cages where red and blue eyes peered out giving the entire room a haunting feel.

The table that Richie was strapped to was leaned all the way back so the boy was now laying horizontal. Several machines now surrounded him: machines to monitor his pulse, breathing, and electromagnetic brain waves.

Specs entered the room pushing Virgil on a gurney.

"I have subject number 2, Mr. Trapper."

"Great." Trapper said moving towards his taller friend. "Now we just wait until this one," he tapped Static's chest, "to wake up."

"What's this?" Mr. Specs picked up a small, beetle like robot.

Trapper came over to look at the contraption more closely. "It's that thing Gear wears, isn't it?"

Specs lifted the robot looking it over.

"This maybe just what were looking for." The brunette man said with an evil smirk.

"Yeah, but how do we make it work?" The tanner of the two young men started prodding at the many pieces of the device. Garnering no results, he gave up and placed the robot on one of the small tables that was in the room.

"What now?" He asked his companion.

"We'll take apart later." Mr. Specs replied. "I'm getting dinner now."

Mr. Specs walked out of the room with Trapper following shortly, giving one last look to the familiar robot.

a/n: Sorry that this has taken so long, and that this chapter is really, really short. I just really couldn't think of anything better, and really I've been watching Zeke and Luther lately, but that show is so very slashy in and of its self (seriously, watch it and write fanfictions, so I can read them).

Anyway, chapter updates will become more frequent once school starts back (hopefully, depending on how boring Polysci is) which will be soon.

On another note, there will most likely be only a few more chapters. So the ending is near (probably).


	22. Chapter 14 Slash

Richie groggily opened his eyes to a dark room. The only light source was the thin streams coming in through the window emanating from the setting sun and the tiny lights blinking on the primitive computers as well as the numerous devices hooked up to the two boys.

Richie opened his eyes wider to get a better look around. Nothing was seeming to make sense. Strange creature peered at him from the walls. He saw what seemed to be a mouse with a duck bill. There was a cat with bird legs and what he thought was a dog with the mouth and tail of an alligator.

Looking closer, Richie realized he was not the only human in the room. He could vaguely make out the image of a teenage boy with dread locks strapped to a table. Said boys eyes were firmly shut and his face seemed to be crinkled in pain.

"V, V!" Richie whispered trying to get the other boys attention with out alerting his captors to his awakened state. "Not awake…" Richie sighed.

The young, blond male once again went to work on the leather straps tightened around his wrist. This time he started attempting to loosen the right one, the left having already been retightened.

He yanked at the bondage several times with more fervor then he had last time. Despite the amount of sleep he had just gotten and the fact that the pain in his back and head had subsided significantly, he was still rather sapped of strength. This, he assumed, was because the purple liquid that had been administered was actually the same poison that had been used on him through the orangutan. However, he found that he seemed to be becoming immune to the poison since this time it had less of an effect on his strength.

The strap slowly began loosening. After nearly an hour of tugging at the band, Richie was able to slip his hand, worn raw from all the tugging, entirely out of the bonds. With this he quickly reached over to his other side and began fumbling with the knot that held his other wrist tightly in place.

He played with this knot for several hours before he was able to free his left hand as well. By this point the young blond had become very tired from the exertion of energy, but realized he had no time to stop if he wanted to get himself and his friend free before the super evil geniuses returned.

He slowly willed himself to sit up. The light from the windows had disappeared. Even the full moons gentle beams were not enough to give Richie any available vision. He could now only see the vague outline of his friend, but he was too far out of arms length for Richie to try and wake him up, and he seemed too far under the influence of the poison in order to be stirred.

Richie bent down to begin working on the binds that currently held his legs into place. The knots were tight, but not nearly as tight as the knots that had been binding his wrist. Apparently, the two captors had underestimated his ability to escape the bounds that were holding his wrist.

Richie made quick work of releasing his legs, now all that was left was the one simple strap that was around his waist. All he had to do to free himself of that was scoot his body up off the table while keeping his legs straight.

Richie made his way off the. He quietly looked around the room looking to see if he could find something that would aid him in cutting his African-American friend free.

After several minutes of looking around he found a small blade that seemed to have once been a box cutter. He rubbed the blade against the calloused pad of his thumb to see how sharp it still was. The cut did not go very deep and little blood was drawn, but he decided it would be sharp enough for him to be able to break the binds holding his friend in.

The blond teen soundlessly walked up to his still captured friend. Virgil was completely quiet and unmoving except the steady fall and rise of his chest signifying his even breathing. Richie slowly ran the back of his hand down Virgil's cheek outlining the contours of his masculine jaw line.

"We're going to talk when we get out of here." He quietly said, then he went to work cutting the tough leather, and was able to break Virgil free in a less than half an hour.

Now he ran into another problem; Virgil was still unconscious and he had no idea how long it would take for the other teen to regain consciousness. Carrying him was out of the question with Richie sapped strength coupled with the fact that Virgil was heavier than him as it was, and dead weight is always heavier.

Richie lightly slapped Virgil's cheek whispering for him to wake up, but Virgil did not show one hint of stirring.

"C'mon, V." Richie whispered. "We gotta get outta here. Who knows when those two creeps will return." When there was still no reply, Richie slowly leaned in and placed a light kiss on Virgil's slightly chapped, slightly parted lips, and lingered there for a moment. He reluctantly pulled away staring at the mocha colored male, willing him to wake up.

A small moan threatened to escape the dark teens lips, but Richie realized that it was a result of his own hopeful mind. Richie sighed, "I guess there's not much that I can do…" and he started looking for ways to escape.

There was the small, barred off window and there was the door. The window would be fine if it hadn't been for the bars covering it, and the door was only an option if they could guarantee Specs, Trapper, or anyone else wouldn't be out there waiting for them.

There was another problem that Richie had run in to. He was not willing to leave with out his robot. It wasn't like he couldn't make another one, but Backpack had become a part of him and he was reluctant to give him up with out a fight. He may not die for the machine, but he was at least willing to get wounded or wait a little longer for freedom for it.

Richie determined to venture to the walls and give a look at the strange creatures that adorned it. With the lack of light it was hard to make out anything other than the eyes of the animals. It was also difficult for Richie to make out how far the row of mutants went.

From the darkness that led to the back of the room, Richie heard a sound that could be defined as a woman speaking. The noise was rather high pitched and panicked, but it was quiet and cautious at the same time.

"H-hello?" Richie stuttered. "Wh-who's there?"

The noise got slightly louder and the words began to become comprehensible. "C-come…here…" The voice quietly whispered.

It scared the blond teen, but at the same time Richie felt compelled to go to the voice. It was like the sirens call and the eighteen year old was as vulnerable as Odysseus' sailors with no ear plugs.

As Richie walked down the aisle, no end seeming to be in existence, the call became louder and louder. "C-come…here… C-come… here…" The voice continually repeated and as Richie got closer he realized it wasn't just one voice, but two. One sounded like that of a woman, and the other sounded like a child no older than twelve.

"W-who's there?" Richie repeated a little bit louder. Just than a long, spindly arm reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him close to the bars of a cage. The superhero narrowly stifled a scream, but could not help but let out a panicked whimper as he turned around to meet two sets of green eyes. The slight light from the moon was reflecting off of them just enough to make them seem like they were glowing. The eyes were not animal like. They were horribly, horribly human.

"What are you?" Richie said so quietly one could almost believe he hadn't said anything at all. The long spindly arm once again reached out from the bars, this time slowly, and gently placed a hand on the scared teens trembling shoulder.

"W-we want…" there was a deep breath, "to help…t-to help you." The creature wheezed out in its two voices.

"Hel-help me what?" Richie managed to stumble out.

"Escape." The eyes seemed to get wider as the creature held out the singular word.

"O-oh, well, I appreciate the offer, um, but… who are you?" Richie pushed out managing to clear his mind of fear if only for a moment.

The eyes half closed and looked to the side. "We were…a family."

"A family?" The teen questioned.

"We were a mother and we were a daughter." The creature quietly said.

Just as Richie was about to respond, he heard a groggy moan coming from the other side of the room. "Hold that thought." Richie said holding up a hand and jogging back through the aisle of creatures to the sound of his dark friend waking up.

"Virgil. Virgil." The blond said quietly walking up to Virgil. "Are you awake?"

"Ri-Richie, is that you?" Virgil managed to stumble out.

"Yeah, it's me, V. You okay?"

"I'm a little drowsy, but yeah, I'm fine." Virgil said sitting up and rubbing his head.

"Good. Then we gotta get outta here." Richie said ready to leave.

"Where is here?"

"We're in Specs' and Trapper's lab. There are some freaky creatures here. One says that it wants to help us." Richie said hurriedly.

The blond grabbed the dark teens elbow and helped him off the table. He gently slipped Virgil's arm around his shoulder for extra support and slowly guided him to the back of the room where the strange duel voiced creature was caged.

A/N: Wow, so yeah, it's been awhile. I wish I had a good excuse, but I don't. I said this fan fiction will be completed, and it will. I just don't know when. I know this is far from enough to make up for the past year that I missed, but another chapter will hopefully come soon and the story should end pretty soon after that. I'm back on a Static Shock kick now, so I think it's safe to say you can expect more chapters to come. I hope you enjoyed, and please review. ^.^


	23. Chapter 14

Richie groggily opened his eyes to a dark room. The only light source was the thin streams coming in through the window emanating from the setting sun and the tiny lights blinking on the primitive computers as well as the numerous devices hooked up to the two boys.

Richie opened his eyes wider to get a better look around. Nothing was seeming to make sense. Strange creature peered at him from the walls. He saw what seemed to be a mouse with a duck bill. There was a cat with bird legs and what he thought was a dog with the mouth and tail of an alligator.

Looking closer, Richie realized he was not the only human in the room. He could vaguely make out the image of a teenage boy with dread locks strapped to a table. Said boys eyes were firmly shut and his face seemed to be crinkled in pain.

"V, V!" Richie whispered trying to get the other boys attention with out alerting his captors to his awakened state. "Not awake…" Richie sighed.

The young, blond male once again went to work on the leather straps tightened around his wrist. This time he started attempting to loosen the right one, the left having already been retightened.

He yanked at the bondage several times with more fervor then he had last time. Despite the amount of sleep he had just gotten and the fact that the pain in his back and head had subsided significantly, he was still rather sapped of strength. This, he assumed, was because the purple liquid that had been administered was actually the same poison that had been used on him through the orangutan. However, he found that he seemed to be becoming immune to the poison since this time it had less of an effect on his strength.

The strap slowly began loosening. After nearly an hour of tugging at the band, Richie was able to slip his hand, worn raw from all the tugging, entirely out of the bonds. With this he quickly reached over to his other side and began fumbling with the knot that held his other wrist tightly in place.

He played with this knot for several hours before he was able to free his left hand as well. By this point the young blond had become very tired from the exertion of energy, but realized he had no time to stop if he wanted to get himself and his friend free before the super evil geniuses returned.

He slowly willed himself to sit up. The light from the windows had disappeared. Even the full moons gentle beams were not enough to give Richie any available vision. He could now only see the vague outline of his friend, but he was too far out of arms length for Richie to try and wake him up, and he seemed too far under the influence of the poison in order to be stirred.

Richie bent down to begin working on the binds that currently held his legs into place. The knots were tight, but not nearly as tight as the knots that had been binding his wrist. Apparently, the two captors had underestimated his ability to escape the bounds that were holding his wrist.

Richie made quick work of releasing his legs, now all that was left was the one simple strap that was around his waist. All he had to do to free himself of that was scoot his body up off the table while keeping his legs straight. When he pulled himself off the table he felt something under his feet. Upon closer inspection he found that it was his small robot affectionately named Backpack. He tried to connect with Backpack, to wake the small machine up, but realized that some electrical field must have fried it, because the robot was not responding in anyway. In fact, it resembled a dead beetle.

Richie heard footsteps coming down the hall and quickly jumped back on to the table. He tied the knots loosely and slipped his limbs back inside hoping that it would go unnoticed. Mr. Trapper walked into the room, bent down behind the table Richie was occupying and picked up the recently put down Backpack. "Don't want them to be able to use you." Mr. Trapper mumbled leaving the room.

Richie once again made his way off the table after making sure Mr. Trapper was long gone. He quietly looked around the room looking to see if he could find something that would aid him in cutting his African-American friend free.

After several minutes of looking around he found a small blade that seemed to have once been a box cutter. He rubbed the blade against the calloused pad of his thumb to see how sharp it still was. The cut did not go very deep and little blood was drawn, but he decided it would be sharp enough for him to be able to break the binds holding his friend in.

Richie quickly went to work cutting the tough leather, and was able to break Virgil free in a less than half an hour. Now he ran into another problem; Virgil was still unconscious and he had no idea how long it would take for the other teen to regain consciousness. Carrying him was out of the question with Richie sapped strength coupled with the fact that Virgil was heavier than him as it was, and dead weight is always heavier.

Richie lightly slapped Virgil's cheek whispering for him to wake up, but Virgil did not show one hint of stirring.

"C'mon, V." Richie whispered. "We gotta get outta here. Who knows when those two creeps will return."

A small moan threatened to escape the dark teens lips, but Richie realized that it was a result of his own hopeful mind. Richie sighed, "I guess there's not much that I can do…" and he started looking for ways to escape.

There was the small, barred off window and there was the door. The window would be fine if it hadn't been for the bars covering it, and the door was only an option if they could guarantee Specs, Trapper, or anyone else wouldn't be out there waiting for them.

There was another problem that Richie had run in to. He was not willing to leave with out his robot. It wasn't like he couldn't make another one, but Backpack had become a part of him and he was reluctant to give him up with out a fight. He may not die for the machine, but he was at least willing to get wounded or wait a little longer for freedom for it.

Richie determined to venture to the walls and give a look at the strange creatures that adorned it. With the lack of light it was hard to make out anything other than the eyes of the animals. It was also difficult for Richie to make out how far the row of mutants went.

From the darkness that led to the back of the room, Richie heard a sound that could be defined as a woman speaking. The noise was rather high pitched and panicked, but it was quiet and cautious at the same time.

"H-hello?" Richie stuttered. "Wh-who's there?"

The noise got slightly louder and the words began to become comprehensible. "C-come…here…" The voice quietly whispered.

It scared the blond teen, but at the same time Richie felt compelled to go to the voice. It was like the sirens call and the eighteen year old was as vulnerable as Odysseus' sailors with no ear plugs.

As Richie walked down the aisle, no end seeming to be in existence, the call became louder and louder. "C-come…here… C-come… here…" The voice continually repeated and as Richie got closer he realized it wasn't just one voice, but two. One sounded like that of a woman, and the other sounded like a child no older than twelve.

"W-who's there?" Richie repeated a little bit louder. Just than a long, spindly arm reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him close to the bars of a cage. The superhero narrowly stifled a scream, but could not help but let out a panicked whimper as he turned around to meet two sets of green eyes. The slight light from the moon was reflecting off of them just enough to make them seem like they were glowing. The eyes were not animal like. They were horribly, horribly human.

"What are you?" Richie said so quietly one could almost believe he hadn't said anything at all. The long spindly arm once again reached out from the bars, this time slowly, and gently placed a hand on the scared teens trembling shoulder.

"W-we want…" there was a deep breath, "to help…t-to help you." The creature wheezed out in its two voices.

"Hel-help me what?" Richie managed to stumble out.

"Escape." The eyes seemed to get wider as the creature held out the singular word.

"O-oh, well, I appreciate the offer, um, but… who are you?" Richie pushed out managing to clear his mind of fear if only for a moment.

The eyes half closed and looked to the side. "We were…a family."

"A family?" The teen questioned.

"We were a mother and we were a daughter." The creature quietly said.

Just as Richie was about to respond, he heard a groggy moan coming from the other side of the room. "Hold that thought." Richie said holding up a hand and jogging back through the aisle of creatures to the sound of his dark friend waking up.

"Virgil. Virgil." The blond said quietly walking up to Virgil. "Are you awake?"

"Ri-Richie, is that you?" Virgil managed to stumble out.

"Yeah, it's me, V. You okay?"

"I'm a little drowsy, but yeah, I'm fine." Virgil said sitting up and rubbing his head.

"Good. Then we gotta get outta here." Richie said ready to leave.

"Where is here?"

"We're in Specs' and Trapper's lab. There are some freaky creatures here. One says that it wants to help us." Richie said hurriedly.

The blond grabbed the dark teens elbow and helped him off the table, guiding him to the back of the room where the strange duel voiced creature was caged.

A/N: Wow, so yeah, it's been awhile. I wish I had a good excuse, but I don't. I said this fan fiction will be completed, and it will. I just don't know when. I know this is far from enough to make up for the past year that I missed, but another chapter will hopefully come soon and the story should end pretty soon after that. I'm back on a Static Shock kick now, so I think it's safe to say you can expect more chapters to come. I hope you enjoyed, and please review. ^.^


	24. Chapter 15

When Virgil saw the two pair of green eyes staring at them he jumped back with a scream. Richie quickly covered his mouth.

"Shh! They'll hear you if you scream like that." The blond teen scolded.

"Sorry, but what is that thing." Virgil responded pointing to the creature.

"It says it was a family, but I don't really understand what that means. Either way, it says it can help us, so I think we ought to listen to it." Richie responded drawing close to the cage. He addressed the mutant, "So how are you going to help us?"

"I will help." The creature moaned. "But first, you must promise to do us a favor."

"What kinda favor?" Virgil questioned skeptical.

"I will tell you when the time comes." The creature croaked.

"Uh-uh. I'm not making any promises of favors with out knowing what it is." Virgil said shaking his head, seemingly much less disturbed by the creature than Richie was.

"Hold up, V. Maybe we should. It might be our only chance of finding a way out." Richie said.

"Alright, fine, but if it wants us to do anything weird, it's on you." Virgil said crossing his arms.

"I'll take that chance." He turned to once again address the creature. "We promise, so tell us what you can do to help us escape."

"I-I can give you information. I can tell you what you're here for."

"Alright. Spill." Richie said interested.

"The doctor," the creature began, "he was my husband, and my father, and we were happy."

Richie and Virgil were shocked.

The creature continued, "but we were poor, and…" the creature hesitated.

"And?" Virgil questioned trying to push it onwards.

"And, he was crazy. He found joy in, in mixing animals. He wanted to find away to make the ultimate human being. When his lab was shut down, he became depressed. Then he met those boys." The last part was said in disgust.

"Those boys being Specs and Trapper, right?" Virgil asked.

"Yes." The creature hissed.

"So what do they want?" Richie questioned prompting the creature to go further.

"They shared his love for human experimentation. They too wanted to create the ultimate being, and so…so they used the only humans they could get their hands on…" Tears could be seen in the pairs of eyes.

"Let them out of the cage." Richie whispered to Virgil.

Virgil nodded his head and held up his finger to the lock.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Richie questioned after a few moments.

"I can't do it. Something is wrong. I've been shorted out." Virgil said shaking his hand as if that would get the electricity running again.

"It must be something they gave you." Richie said with annoyance. "We'll think of away to get you out, but for now continue."

"It wasn't enough though. Even combining humans and adding different chemicals did nothing for them. They eventually began plotting to catch meta humans, but with the cure that had gone out….there were none….except you."

"So what about all these chemicals and stuff they've been putting in us?" Richie asked.

"Yeah, and how did they make it so people can't see us?" Virgil questioned holding up his hand.

"There was a cloud, a purple cloud." A low raspy voice behind them said. The young superheroes quickly spun around to see a pair of blue, human eyes.

"And who are you?" Virgil asked.

"I was one of the scientist that worked with Dr. Ricketson." The low voice said. "I was the last experiment before we were shut down. I thought I could be come the ultimate human…" the voice trailed off.

"Yeah, there was a purple cloud." Richie said trying to get back on topic.

"And you were caught in the rain?" The voice asked.

"Yeah. We were." Virgil responded not seeing were this was going.

"That was a cloud I invented. It was a cloud of nanobots. They cover your body and refract the light around you so you appear invisible to anyone that hasn't taken the antidote."

"But people couldn't hear me either." Virgil responded.

"The nanobots can also manipulate sound waves and various other forms of communication, so as erasing ink if you try to write. We called it the ghost cloud, but we were never able to make it so you wouldn't be able to touch things."

"Oh, that explains a lot." Richie said. "So how come you can see us? Have you had the antidote?"

"No." The low voice rasped. "Were you given a purple liquid that stung like ice?"

"Yeah." Virgil answered.

"That was the cure. It strips your skin of the nanobots."

"So what do they plan on doing to us now that they've caught us?" Richie asked.

"Gear, the smart boy." The female duel voices wheezed. "They want you to create the ultimate being."

"And Static, the electric hero" the male voice said, "they want you to become the ultimate being."

"There's no way that I'm going to let that happen." Richie said the anger obvious in his voice. "So how do we get out of here?"

"The window." The woman's duel voice said.

"Yeah, but it's barred and we don't have a way to get through bars." Richie said a little aggravated.

"Open the cages." The male voice said. "And climb as high as you can get.""What?" Virgil asked confused. "Why?"

"The creatures in here." The male voice continued. "They can, and will, destroy everything. Including you."

"There's got to be a better way." Richie said looking around.

"There is no other way." The female voice stated.

"Rich, we may just have to do this. You open the cages on the left, I'll open the ones on the right, then we'll climb on to the window and hope for the best." Virgil said resigned to the fact that it may be the only option.

Richie thought for several minutes. He still recognized that there was the possibility of going out the door, but if Specs and Trapper caught them, they probably wouldn't be able to get the chance to escape again and then it would be too late. On the other hand this was a risky plan because they had the chance of being destroyed along with everything in the room, but even if the window wasn't open they would be able to escape in the inevitable chaos that would ensue.

"What about you?" Virgil asked the humanoid creatures that were still in the cage.

"Let us die." Both the male and female voices breathed out.

"What? I can't do that." Virgil said. "Not when you're trying to help us."

"My request is to die." The female voice said. "We need to die."

Richie sighed. "Virgil, let's do it. They can't live after this. Not really."

Virgil hesitated, but looking into the green eyes he realized it was their only option. They had been in pain too long. "Okay." He replied.

The boys quickly broke the locks on the cages and bolted as fast as the could to the window. They grabbed on to the bars and pulled themselves up, sitting on the very edge of the window seal.

It took a few moments, but there were stirs of activity. First, there was quiet rustling. Then, louder sounds started to emanate from the cages. One shook until a creature burst free of it, something between an lion and a large snapping turtle. It growled and hissed, and as it swung it's large tail around it knocked other cages off their holding place.

Other creatures started moving out: the alligator dog, a gorilla that looked like it had electronic modifications, an eagle claws at the ends of it's wings, and all sorts of hybrid animals and machinery.

The place became alive with the sounds of metal clanking, class shattering, and animals growling, hissing, and fighting. It was a terrible sight as several different colors of blood splattered across the room: red, green, yellow, and black.

The two young super heroes clung tightly to the window and closed their eyes as they hoped that the animals would create away to freedom before they discovered the boys.

Foot steps could be heard going frantically down the hall. It's was clear that the two young men who had kidnapped the teenagers were running down the hall to hear what the commotion was all about. As soon as the door was ripped open, the alligator dog leapt at the young men tackling the blond one to the ground and snapping at his face.

Mr. Specs screamed and tried to pull the homunculus off of his friend. In the middle of trying to do so, the eagle swooped down and dug it's razor sharp claws through his green Hawaiian shirt and into his soft skin. The brunette man let out a shriek and tried to pull the creature off his back as the blond man was trying to push the alligator dog off of himself now that it had his arm firmly gripped in it's jaws.

Richie and Virgil looked on in horror. They gave a quick glance to each other and jumped off the window to make a mad dash for the hallway. Richie grabbed the box opener on his way out and fell on top of the creature that was attacking Mr. Trapper. He stabbed the creature in the back with the dull blade dragging it from the shoulder bone to the hip where the tail protruded. The creature let out a bloodcurdling cry and jerked backwards flailing on the floor.

Richie then ran to Virgil who was fighting with the eagle that Virgil had managed to rip off of Mr. Specs. He slashed at the claws and cut one of the legs leaving it dangling from the body. This made the eagle furious and it swooped down the bite Richie on the shoulder. As it dug it's beak in, Virgil grabbed the box cutter and shoved it in the eagle's neck behind it's wing. The eagle fail to the ground flapping it's wing on the opposite side from the place that had been stabbed.

Richie grabbed Mr. Specs by the forearm and began running and Virgil did the same with Mr. Trapper. As they evacuated the building -Mr. Specs and Mr. Trapper were in a daze- Richie's robot, Backpack, clambered down from where it had been stored and climbed on to Richie's back.

"Backpack!" Richie exclaimed excited to see the robot. "Set this building on fire."

The little robot extended a tendril like are with a flame on the end. As they were leaving the building, Richie paused for a moment and let Backpack sprits lighter fuel on the walls and catch them on fire. Then the boys dashed out of the building. When they were far enough away from it that they would not be effected, they collapsed on the ground huffing.

Richie reached in to Specs pocket finding a cell phone.

"Hey! What are you doing?" The brunette man asked jerking away.

"Calling cops." Richie responded as he dialed the familiar three numbers.

Specs made to protest, but was too exhausted and instead accepted his fate as he lay back on the ground. Trappers wounds were severe enough that he had already passed out. Virgil left him alone to attend to the new would on Richie's shoulder. He used his Static jacket that had been thankfully left to him to patch up, the young blonds wound, then he tended to both Specs and Trapper's wounds so they wouldn't die before they could be sent to jail for the fourth time.

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Authors note: First I need to say, this chapter wasn't broken into slash and not because it would have been the same either way, so I didn't want to uploaded it twice.

Second, I am sorry that it has been forever since I've posted a chapter. I didn't mean for it to take so long, but the good news is, this is the next to last chapter and I am writing the last chapter right now so it will be up today or tomorrow, and this time I will stick to that. Thank you so much for your patience and I really appreciate everyone who has stuck with me this far and those who have continued to review.


	25. Afterward Slash

Virgil Hawkins and Richie Foley sat on a worn down couch, in a old, abandoned gas station watching a small television. A Latina lady with shoulder length brown hair was speaking. As she was speaking a blond, young man and a brunette young man with glasses -both in orange jumpsuits- were being led from a police car into a jail house. There was also an elderly man with graying hair who looked like he was half mad.

"After days without our superheroes, Static and Gear." She was saying, "we have discovered it was all an elaborate ruse by these three men you see behind me now. The men, who we previously believed to be Static and Gear were discovered to be college students that had been called to be interns at an institution that is no longer running. Although these young men were not the superheroes our city has come to depend one, we should all pause and take a moment of silence for the loss of these families."

There was thirty seconds of silence, then the television clicked off.

"So, Rich." Virgil said turning to his blond friend who was sitting to the left of him on the old couch. "There's something I kinda wanted to tell you."

"I wanted to tell you something too." Richie chuckled. " But you can go first."

"No, you can if you want." Virgil said nervously.

" No, you started, so you go first." Richie protested.

"Well, I was thinking, in light of recent circumstances and all and how short our lives might be given our line of work," Virgil talked quickly as if he talked fast enough what he was saying would be less awkward. "I was thinking, would you, well…" he took a deep breath, "want to, you know be to-"

Richie cut him off with a kiss. As soon as he pulled away he said "I'm so glad you said that first, 'cause I couldn't think of any good way to say it." He ended with a big smile.

"So that's a yes?" Virgil asked already knowing the answer.

"That's a yes." Richie replied once again pushing his lips to his new boyfriends.

The End

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A/N: Okay, so that was a short chapter and probably a little disappointing, but there wasn't too many lose ends to tie up anymore. So I hope you enjoyed the story and will check out some of my others. Thank you for reading and thank you for reviewing.


	26. Afterward

Virgil Hawkins and Richie Foley sat on a worn down couch, in a old, abandoned gas station watching a small television. A Latina lady with shoulder length brown hair was speaking. As she was speaking a blond, young man and a brunette young man with glasses -both in orange jumpsuits- were being led from a police car into a jail house. There was also an elderly man with graying hair who looked like he was half mad.

"After days without our superheroes, Static and Gear." She was saying, "we have discovered it was all an elaborate ruse by these three men you see behind me now. The men, who we previously believed to be Static and Gear were discovered to be college students that had been called to be interns at an institution that is no longer running. Although these young men were not the superheroes our city has come to depend one, we should all pause and take a moment of silence for the loss of these families."

There was thirty seconds of silence, then the television clicked off.

The End

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A/N: Okay, so that was a short chapter for the nonslash afterward, but there wasn't too many lose ends to tie up anymore. So I hope you enjoyed the story and will check out some of my others. Thank you for reading.


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